Tatiana Bonch-Osmolovskaya is an artist, writer and translator with a background in natural science. Tatiana was born in Simferopol in Crimea. Tatiana studied physics in Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, received a Candidate of philology degree from Moscow State Humanitarian University, and a PhD degree from the University of New South Wales, Australia, in the area of contemporary Russian experimental poetry. She is a member of the Union of Russian Writers and Russian PEN Centre. Tatiana is the author of ten books of prose, poetry and translations, including Introduction into the literature of formal restrictions (Samara: Bakhrakh-M, 2009, in Russian), Idti legko (New York: Stosvet Press, 2011, in Russian), and Istoki istiny (Moscow: Art-Haus Media, 2015, in Russian). She co-edited the anthology Freedom of restriction in Russian. Her poetry written in English has been published in Can I tell you a secret?, Across the Russian Wor(l)d, Bridges Anthologies, London Grip, The Disappearing, Journal of Humanistic Mathematics, and The POEM. Tatiana awards include the Symmetry Festival (Budapest, 2003), International Burlyuk Mark (2009), Booknik’s short story contest (Moscow, 2009), Okno literary journal (2010), Nora Gal literary translation contest (short list, 2015), Novyi Mir literary contest for Osip Mandelstam anniversary (2015), and Russian Prize contest (long list, 2015). Tatiana has participated in 30 art exhibitions in Russia, Europe, USA, and Australia, including personal exhibitions in Russia and Australia. She is interested in the representation of strict mathematical forms in arts; in ordered and chaotic structures; in writing and creating art objects on formal language and literary restrictions. Tatiana is also a researcher and an organiser of cultural projects.
‘Abecedary of Despair’ by Tatiana Bonch-Osmolovskaya
‘АБЕЦЕДАРИЙ ОТЧАЯНИЯ’ by Татьяна Бонч-Осмоловская
Serhiy Zhadan (Сергiй Жадан) is a Ukrainian poet, novelist, essayist, and translator. He was born in 1974 in Luhansk Oblast, Ukraine, and now lives in Kharkiv, Ukraine. Serhiy graduated from the Vasyl Karazin Kharkiv National University, and has a PhD in Ukrainian literary studies. He is the author of twelve collections of poetry, several books of prose, and translations. Serhiy translates poetry from German, English, Belarussian, and Russian. His own poems have been translated into German, English, Polish, Serbian, Croatian, Lithuanian, Belarusian, Russian and, Armenian languages. He received a diploma from the Moscow International Book Fair (2008) for the novel Anarchy in the UKR. In 2016, Serhiy Zhadan was awarded with the Ukrainian Book of the Year State Prize, and donated the prize to children care centres of Lugansk region. In 2014, Serhiy Zhadan’s Voroshylovhrad (Ворошиловград) was awarded Book of the Decade by the BBC Ukrainian. Voroshylovhrad (Ворошиловград) had previously won the BBC Ukrainian Book of the Year in 2010. Serhiy Zhadan’s Voroshylovhrad (Ворошиловград) also received the Jan Michalski Prize for Literature in 2014.
‘Продажні поети 60-х’ (‘Venal poets of the 60s’) by Serhiy Zhadan (Сергiй Жадан)
‘Продажні поети 60-х’, by Serhiy Zhadan was originally published in the collection of poetry Господь симпатизирует аутсайдерам by Книжный Клуб Клуб семейного досуга in 2005. ‘Продажні поети 60-х’ has been republished in Rochford Street Review along with the translation, ‘Venal poets of the 60s’ by Tatiana Bonch-Osmolovskaya, with Serhiy Zhadan’s permission.
Vladimir Aristov (Владимир Аристов) was born in 1950 in Moscow, Russia. He graduated from Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, has a degree in physics, and works as a professor of physics. His poetry has been published since 1997. He is an author of five books of poetry, one novel, a play, and a number of essays. He is a laureate of Alexey Kruchenych poetry prize (1993), Andrey Bely poetry prize (2008), and Razlichie (Difference) poetry prize (2016).
Vladimir Aristov’s poems ‘Занятия археологией’ and ‘australis (смотрящей сквозь море)’ were last published in Открытые дворы (Moscow, New Literary Review, 2016, pages: 313-314 and 71 respectively). They have been republished in Rochford Street Review along with translations by Tatiana Bonch-Osmolovskaya, ‘Practising archaeology’ and ‘australis (to her looking through the sea)’, with Vladimir Aristov’s permission.
Yan Satunovsky (Iakob Abramovich Satunovsky, Ян Сатуновский, 1913-1982) was a Russian poet and literary critic. He had a degree in physical chemistry and worked as an engineer. He starting writing poetry in 1938 and his early work is close to that of the Russian constructivist poets. He was in the army in World War II. He was awarded several medals but was also wounded. After the war, he worked and lived in Elektrostal city near Moscow. In 1961, he joined the Russian unofficial poetry group Lianozovo. During the Soviet era, only his poems for children were officially published in the USSR, although a number of poems were published outside of Russia.
Satunovsky’s poetic voice is that of a person who was run over by the totalitarian era and who stands alone to oppose the mass insanity. He writes about humanism and human values when the state values prevail. He was possibly the first Soviet poet who spoke out about the Holocaust. His poetry was written after the horror of Auschwitz and the Gulag. It seeks the truth and genuine beauty among lies and terror.
His books include Хочу ли я посмертной славы. Москва, 1992 (Do I dream of the posthumous fame. Moscow, 1992); Рубленая проза. Мюнхен, Otto Sagner Verlag, 1994 (Rustic prose. Munich, Otto Sagner Verlag, 1994); and Среди бела дня. Москва, ОГИ, 2001 (In broad daylight. Moscow, OGI, 2001).
‘Мама, мама, когда мы будем дома?’ (‘Mother, mother, when will we return home?’) by Yan Satunovsky
‘Мама, мама, когда мы будем дома?’ by Yan Satunovsky has been published in Rochford Street Review in both Russian and English with his daughter, Viktoria Pashkovskaya’s permission. The English translation, ‘Mother, mother, when will we return home?’ is by Tatiana Bonch-Osmolovskaya.
Rochford Street Review and Associate Editor, Zalehah Turner would like to thank everyone involved; Serhiy Zhadan, Vladimir Aristov, Viktoria Pashkovskaya, and particularly, Tatiana Bonch-Osmolovskaya.
.
Rochford Street Review 