Anzhelina Polonskaya is considered one of the freshest voices among young Russian poets. Unlike most of her contemporaries, she was not educated in the classic literary tradition, nor nurtured by the well-known Moscow and Petersburg journals. This has freed her from self-consciously struggling under the weight of her country`s literary tradition, and her independent, even idiosyncratic, voice informs poems filled with sharp images, acute observations, and both the pains and joys of personal experience. Drawn from her most recent Russian collections, A Voice: Selected Poems explores the poet`s ongoing fascinations--desolate places, long journeys, a synesthesia of sensory stimulation, and the presence of death. Also on display is her Chekhovian gift for unexpected closure. This is a promising English-language debut from a poet already gaining international attention.

 Professor Andrew Wachtel

Anzhelina Polonskaya was born in Malakhovka, a small town near Moscow. She began to write poems seriously at the age of eighteen. At that time she was a professional ice-show skater. (Institute of Physical Culture, 1987-1992).  Between 1995 and 1997 she lived in Latin America, working as an ice dancer.  Her first book of verses "Svetoch Moy Nebesny" (My Heavenly Torch) appeared in 1993. By that time, the magazine "Smena" had already published her first poems.

In 1998, the Moscow Writer’s Publishing House published her second book, entitled "Stikhotvoreniia” (Verses).  Having left the ice show, Polonskaya decided to devote herself to literature. Her works were published in such popular venues as "Moskovsky Komsomolets" (poets' competition), "Arguments and Facts" (in memory of Galina Starovoytova), as well as "Moskovsky Vestnik", Gorodskoe Review", "Poetry" magazine.  Since 1998, she has been a member of the Moscow Union of Writers.

In 1999, her book "Nebo glazami riadovogo” (The Sky in a Private’s Eye) was published by the newspaper "Vek" (Century).  In September 1999, this book was presented at the First International Festival of Poets in Moscow, and, in October 1999, at the international poetry festival/conference "Three Worlds - Three Generations" at Northwestern University.   This event featured poets from Russia, Poland, and Slovenia, (including Ewa Lipska, Andrei Voznesensky, Tomaz Salamun and Ales Debeljak) as well as critics, publishers, and major American poets (Mark Strand, Charles Simic, Lyn Hejinian). 

In 2002 her fourth book “Golos” (A Voice) was published in Moscow, and in 2003, Polonskaya became a member of the Russian PEN-centre.  In 2004 an English-language collection, entitled "A Voice," appeared in the “Writings from an Unbound Europe” series at Northwestern University Press.  This book was shortlisted for the 2005

Corneliu  Popescu Prize for European Poetry in Translation and is on the shortlist for the American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages (AATSEEL) prize for literature in translation.  A review of the book was recently published in the Slavic and East European Journal (SEEJ, 50, 2). Polonskaya’s work has also been translated into  Dutch and Spanish.

Polonskaya continues to live and work in Malakhovka, where she is preparing a new volume of poetry for publication.

Books:

"My Heavenlike Torch",1993;

” Stixotvorenia” (Moscow Writer Publishing House, 1998); 

“The Sky Through aPrivate’s Eye”(Kogelet Publishing House, 1999);

 “Golos” (Moscow, Podkova Pablishing House 2002);

“A Voice” ( Northwestern University Press 2004, USA);

“Snow within”(R. Elinina,, classic century21^st, 2008)

Critique List:

“Let freedom rings. Poets of former communist countries no longer Soviet writer’s bloc”

Chicago Tribune

October 29, 1999

“One cannot become a poet without in-born talent”

“Vecherniaya Moskva” ( “Evening Moscow”),  № 161, 25 August, 1999

Slavic and East European Journal

Review Anzhelina Polonskaya. A Voice: Selected Poems. Trans. And ed. Andrew Wachtel

By Sarah Pratt, University of Southern California 2006

Interview:

“Is it easy to be a poet?”

Arguments and Facts, № 1, 1999

Written by Iva Barmina

Newspapers, magazines, anthologies

“Smena Magazine” Moscow, 1994, 1998

“Arguments and Facts" (in memory of Galina Starovoytova) –poem, review, Moscow 1998

Anthology “3 lands 3 generations” – poems USA, Northwestern University1999

Anthology Vilenica, - poems  Slovenia 2000

“ Southern Indiana Review” – poems  USA 2001

Magazine” Prometeo” – poems Medellin, Columbia 2002

“Austin American Statesmen” – review, Austin, USA 2003

Anthology Macedonia – poems, Struga, Macedonia 2003

Anthology Poetry Africa- poems, South Africa 2003

Magazine“ Poetry NZ” - poems New Zealand 2004

Malaga Review – review, Malaga, Spain, 30/05/2004

“Periodico de Sevilla” – review, Sevilla, Spain 2004

Magazine “Alora”- poems,  Spain 2004

“Beloit Poetry Review” – poems, USA  2005

Magazine “PO” – poems, translations, Moscow 2005

Magazine “Atlantika” – poems, review, Spain 2006

“International Poetry Review” – review, USA fall 2006

“Modern Poetry in Translation”- poems, review, London UK  2007

“Stand” Magazine- poems, UK 2007

“Poetry Review” – poems, London, UK 2008

“Poetry Salzburg Review” – poems, Salzburg, Austria 2008

PEN –Tijdingen Nr.3,2008 –  poems, review,Antwerp

“TSL”,Amsterdam, winter 2009

“Volga” – poems, Moscow 2009

 “Descant” – poems, Canada, 2009

“World Literature Today”, 2010

“Malahat”, 2010

“Boulevard magazine”, 2010

Polonskaya has participated in the following international poetry festivals:

1999: “Three Lands, Three Generations” Chicago, USA

2000: “Vilenica” Slovenia

2002: Medellin, Columbia,

2002: International Poetry Forum, Magnitogorsk, Russia

2003: Austin International Poetry Festival, USA,

2003: “Poetry Africa,” South Africa

2003: Poetry Night and programme for translators, Macedonia

2004: Bienal Internacional de Poesia, Spain

      2005 Wellington Poetry Festival, NZ

      2006 The Maastricht International Portry Night

      2006 Sidaja International Poetry Festival

      2007  International Poetry Festival in Dornbirn, Austria

      2009 International Istanbul Poetry Festival

Grants:

2005 International Writers and Translators Centre of Rhodes

2006 LH International Writers Residency (USA)

2006  Fundacion Valparaiso Residensy (Spain)

2007 Wrires flat of the PEN Centre of Flandres

2008 Cove Park Scottish Arts Council Tree-month residency

2008  Hawthornden International Retreat for Writers

2009 Camargo Foundation Semester Residency Program