The Zoo in Winter

Polina Barskova, born in 1976, is widely regarded as the most important Russian poet of her generation. Her first book of poems was published when she was still a teenager. After receiving a degree in Russian Literature and Classics from St. Petersburg University at age twenty, she came to the U.S. where she earned a Ph.D. in Russian Literature from UC Berkeley. Author of seven books of poetry, this is her first collection in English. Barskova teaches at Hampshire College.Boris Dralyuk was born in Odessa in 1982 and immigrated to the United States in 1991.  He is currently completing a PhD in Slavic Languages and Literatures at UCLA. His poems, translations, and reviews have appeared in various literary and academic journals. David Stromberg is the author of Baddies (Melville House 2009). He has written for The Believer, The Forward, Jerusalem Post, and Ha'aretz and he has edited several translations including Gail Hareven's award-winning novel The Confessions of Noa Weber (Melville House 2009), Catherine Breillat's Pornocracy (Semiotext(e) 2009), and Zeek: Russified, a volume of contemporary Russian-Jewish writing.