Ilya Kaminsky was born in Odessa, former USSR, and arrived in USA in 1993, when his family was granted asylum. He is the author of Dancing in Odessa (Tupelo Press), Deaf Republic (forthcoming from Graywolf) and several other books. He has edited many collections of poems and essays, including Ecco Anthology of International Poetry (Harper Collins) which has been called "a modern classic." His poems have been translated into numerous languages and his books have been published in Turkey, Netherlands, Russia, France, Mexico, Macedonia, Romania, Spain, and China, where his poetry was awarded the Yinchuan International Poetry Prize. His other awards include the American Academy of Arts and Letters' Metcalf Award, The Whiting Writers Award, Lannan Foundation Fellowship, Ruth Lilly Fellowship, Poetry magazine's Levinson Prize. Recently, his new poems were included into Best American Poetry and Pushcart Prize anthologies.