Yakov Klots

Yakov Klots is an American philologist, Slavicist, and translator. He is the author of articles on Russian poetry and literary translation, Gulag prose, samizdat, emigration and the diaspora, linguistic mythology, and urban spaces in Russian literature. He is the coauthor and editor of two books, including Joseph Brodsky in Lithuania, as well as a number of articles.

In 2011, under the supervision of Thomas Venclova, he defended his dissertation on Joseph Brodsky at Yale University. He is currently an associate professor in the Department of Classical Studies and Oriental Studies at Hunter College (CUNY), City University of New York, USA. He teaches Russian literature and writes articles on Russian poetry and literary translation, Gulag prose, samizdat, emigration and the diaspora, linguistic mythology, and urban spaces in Russian literature.

His book Poets in New York: On the City, Language, and the Diaspora is a kind of genre synthesis of the poetry of sixteen contemporary Russian-language poets now living outside Russia and interviews in which they speak candidly about themselves and their lives. It explores the multilevel meanings embodied in the book, the life of the Russian diaspora abroad, and the path chosen by poetry severed from language.

Klots also co-translated Tamara Petkevich’s memoir Life, an Unmatched Shoe (Memoir of a Gulag Actress) into English together with Ross Ufberg.