"Yet my country cannot be found,
its citizens meet in dreams
to conduct elections."

Ilya Kaminsky was born in Odessa, former Soviet Union in 1977, and arrived to the United States
in 1993, when his family was granted asylum by the American government. Ilya is the author of
Dancing In Odessa (Tupelo Press, 2004) which won the Whiting Writer's Award, the American
Academy of Arts and Letters' Metcalf Award, the Dorset Prize, the Ruth Lilly Fellowship given
annually by Poetry magazine. Dancing In Odessa was also named Best Poetry Book of the Year
2004 by ForeWord Magazine.

In late 1990s, he co-founded Poets For Peace, an organization which sponsors poetry readings in the
United States and abroad with a goal of supporting such relief organizations as Doctors Without
Borders and Survivors International. Ilya has also worked as a Law Clerk at the National Immigration
Law Center, and more recently at Bay Area Legal Aid, helping impovershed and homeless in solving
their legal difficulties.

In addition, Ilya writes poetry in Russian. His work in that language was chosen for "Bunker Poetico" at Venice Bienial Festival in Italy. Ilya has served as a Writer In Residence at Phillips Exeter Academy and has taught poetry at numerous literary centers. In Fall 2006, he began teaching in the graduate writing program at San Diego State University. He currently lives in San Diego, Califonia with his beautiful wife, Katie Farris.