The Stella Art Foundation presented an evening of poetry with the famous American poet and translator, John High.

To a packed audience, John High read his poetry and his essay, “A Few Words on Methodology in Translating Osip Mandelstam and Nina Iskrenko.” After giving his own reading and presentation, High read translations of poets from the infamous Poetry Club group of writers, of whom he was made an honorary member at the time of the fall of the Soviet Union. These poets read their own poems as well. Included among them were Yuri Arabov, Aleksandr Eremenko, Mark Shatanovsky, Evgennii Bunimovich, Ivan Zhdanov and the late Nina Isrkenko (whose poems were read by her husband, Sergei Kuznetsov).

During the evening, Evgeny Bunimovich gave a talk and slide presentation concerning the project to erect a monument in Moscow in tribute to Osip Mandelstam, who died in the camps in 1938 during Stalin’s “Great Terror.” Though the monument has not yet been erected, tonight’s event served as its official announcement and celebration.

Poet, novelist, and translator, John High is the author of eight books, including the award-winning trilogy of novels, The Desire Notebooks (selected by the Village Voice Literary Supplement as one of the top 25 books of its year). His most recent publications include the novel, Talking God’s Radio Show and a book-length poem, here. He is the recipient of two National Endowment for the Arts grants and writing awards from the Witter Bynner Foundation, Arts International, and the Academy of American Poets, among others.

High has received four Fulbright Fellowships to teach, translate, and write in Moscow. His first stay in Moscow was in 1986 when he was introduced to the Metarealist poets. In 1991 he was made an honorary member of the original Club Poetry. As a founding editor of Five Fingers Review, he was instrumental in bringing these and other Russian poets to an American readership. He has translated the work of Nina Iskrenko, Alexander Eremenko, Yuri Arabov, Mark Shatunovsky, Aleksi Parshikov, Ivan Zhandov, Evgeni Bunimovich, and many more as the chief editor for Crossing Centuries: The New Russian Poetry. Currently he is working toward the completion of new translations of Osip Mandelstam’s Voronezh Notebooks for which he received his last Fulbright in 2001. He has taught Creative Writing at San Francisco State University, Moscow State University, Montclair University, and currently teaches Creative Writing and literature in the MFA program at Long Island University in Brooklyn, New York. His new book of poetry a book of unknowing is forthcoming next year from Talisman House Publishers.