Anna Akhmatova is one of the most beloved poets in the Soviet Union. However, publication of her complete works has long been suppressed in her own country as a reaction to poems written during the Stalinist purges of the 1930 and 40s. Judith Hemschemeyer, herself a distinguished poet, has recently completed translating The Complete Poems of Anna Akhmatova. It is appropriate that the publication of this work coincides with the centenary of Akhmatova's birth.

4:00pm

A reading of original works by award-winning poet Judith Hemschemeyer.

8:00pm

A bilingual reading of poems by Anna Akhmatova with Judith Hemschemeyer, translator, and Dimitri Bobyshev, poet, former student of Akhmatova, consultant to the translation project, and UIUC faculty member. A discussion of the translation process will follow the reading.

"It may be some comfort to reflect that poets are not easily silenced, even in death . . . despite the passage of time, the ranks of listeners grow, and the names of Akhmatova and Pasternak and Mandelstam are familiar even on foreign tongues."

Stanley Kunitz

In conjunction with: Department of English, Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, Humanities Council / LAS, Program in Comparative Literature, Office of Women's Resources and Services, Russian and East European Center, Women's Studies Program, George A. Miller Committee