Dmitri Prigov:  was born in Moscow in 1940.  A prolific writer (in 2005 he estimated that he had already written 35,000 poems), he was a founder of the “Moscow Conceptual Art” school.  Prior to the collapse of the Soviet Union, he published in underground and émigré journals, and was briefly sent to a psychiatric hospital after being arrested by the KGB.  With the onset of glasnost and perestroika, he was able to publish and show his visual art in “official” venues, and also exhibited his art outside of Russia.  He won several prizes, including, in 2002, the Boris Pasternak prize.  He died, in Moscow, of a heart attack in 2007.  His collected works are being published in Russia, edited by Mark Lipovetsky.  In 2019, Ugly Duckling Presse will publish a collection of his work in English.

Alexei Parshchikov:  was a Russian poet, critic, and translator born in Olga, Primorsky Krai, Russian SFSR to the family of a famous physician, Maxim Reiderman, and a surgeon, L.S. Parschikova. His publications in English include Blue Vitriol,translated by Michael Palmer, Michael Molnar, and John High and with an Introduction by Marjorie Perloff (Avec Books, 1994).

Helga Olshvang:  is an American writer, poet, and filmmaker.  Her films, including the documentary “A Film About Anna Akhmatova” (2008), have been screened at international film festivals and television channels worldwide.  She has authored seven books of poetry. The English translations from recent books, The Three (Ailuros, NY), The Blue is White(Knizhnoye Obozreniye ARGO-RISK ), and the bilingualScrolls(Cultural Revolution Publishing), have been reviewed in literary magazines and anthologies.

Philip Nikolayev:  is a Russo-American bilingual poet living in Boston.  He is a polyglot and translates poetry from several languages.  His poetic works are published in literary periodicals internationally, including Poetry, The Paris Review, and Grand Street.  His collections include Monkey Time (Verse/Wave Books) and Letters from Aldenderry (Salt).  He co-editsFulcrum, a serial anthology of poetry and critical writing.