A Bilingual Collection of Poems for a Dispirited Society 

Amid the din of Russia’s patriotic sentiments and Instagram instants, is there any room left for the voice of a poet? Despite the many entertainments and distractions of modern life, Anzhelina Polonskaya’s spare but cutting poems in Take Me to Stavanger declare a wholehearted “Yes.” This bilingual Russian-English volume makes a refuge for the poet and her readers, plumbing the depths of contemporary melancholy and ennui. Beautifully crafted idiosyncratic dissections of a strong individual who refuses to go along with the currents of popular culture or political jingoism invite readers to slow down and pay attention.  

Anzhelina Polonskaya is a Russian writer and artist from Malakhovka, a small town near Moscow. She is the author of A Voice, To the Ashes, and Paul Klee’s Boat, all of which were translated into English by Andrew Wachtel. Her poetry has also been translated into German, Dutch, Slovenian, Latvian, and Spanish. 

Andrew Wachtel is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He translates from Russian, Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian, and Slovene. His translation of Anzhelina Polonskaya’s Paul Klee’s Boat was shortlisted for the PEN Award for Poetry in Translation.