Irina Mashinski is a bilingual Russophone American writer, poet, essayist, teacher, and translator, whose works include Giornata and eleven books of poetry and essays in Russian. She is also the co-editor of The Penguin Book of Russian Poetry. In this episode, Irina talks with Jacke about her childhood in the Soviet Union, her journey to becoming a poet living in America, and her new book The Naked World, which mixes poems and prose accounts to tell the story of four generations of a family living through Stalin's Great Terror, the Thaw of the Sixties, and the post-Thaw Seventies.

SPECIAL NOTE: Irina would like to express her gratitude to the editors and translators who helped with The Naked World, and to whom she is very grateful.

Additional listening suggestions:

Music Credits:

“⁠Handel – Entrance to the Queen of Sheba⁠” by Advent Chamber Orchestra (From the ⁠Free Music Archive⁠ / ⁠CC by SA⁠).

Help support the show at patreon.com/literature or historyofliterature.com/donate. The History of Literature Podcast is a member of Lit Hub Radio and the Podglomerate Network. Learn more at www.thepodglomerate.com/historyofliterature.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices