Ilya Danishevsky is a poet and writer who works at the intersection of poetry and prose, using language as a tool to explore extreme states. His texts intertwine themes of violence, distorted communication, corporeality and sexuality, same-sex love, and the clash of personal experience with the pressures of totalitarian reality. His prose and poetry address traumatic experiences that are often impossible to express through conventional means. He is the author of the books "Tenderness for the Dead," "Mannelig in Chains," "Damoclean Techno," and "The Bear and the Pendulum," a finalist for the Andrey Bely and Arkady Dragomoshchenko Prizes, a participant in the International Poetry Biennale, and a recipient of a fellowship at Schloss Wiepersdorf. His texts have been translated into several European languages. Since 2022, he has lived in Cologne.
At the meeting, Ilya Danishevsky will talk about his latest book, The Bear and the Pendulum (Literature Without Borders), and his novel, Damocles' Techno (Freedom Letters), which was shortlisted for this season's Dar Prize.
"The Bear and the Pendulum" is a fusion of poetry and prose. It's a book about people fleeing various wars and seeking refuge in search of love and identity. Their illusory lives explode into phantasmagorias of reality and poetry that blends political relevance and human intimacy. The novel "Damocles Techno," inspired by tarot cards, an arthouse computer game, and predictions of a bleak future, tells the story of the underbelly of war, exile, and the human struggle against the evil of great history—all in the genre of a terrifying German fairy tale, uncompromising in its hopelessness.
Moderator – Dmitry Kuzmin