SDSU Professor Receives Guggenheim Fellowship
Chosen from nearly 3,000 applicants in the United States and Canada, IIya Kaminsky was selected for excellence in poetry.
The honor, handed down by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, is given annually in the form of individual grants to a select group of scientists, artists and scholars in the United States and Canada.
Kaminsky is one of only 175 recipients chosen from a group of nearly 3,000 applicants.
“This highly-sought-after honor speaks to Professor Kaminsky’s signal contributions and impressive record of achievement both in and out of the classroom as a talented artist and a champion of creativity,” said Norma Bouchard, dean of SDSU’s College of Arts and Letters.
According to the foundation, fellows are appointed on the basis of “prior achievement and exceptional promise.”
Kaminsky is the author of “Dancing In Odessa,” published in 2004, which won the Whiting Writer's Award, the American Academy of Arts and Letters' Metcalf Award, the Dorset Prize and the Ruth Lilly Fellowship given annually by Poetry magazine. In 2008, Kaminsky was awarded Lannan Foundation's Literary Fellowship. Poems from his manuscript, “Deaf Republic,” were awarded Poetry magazine's Levinson Prize and the Pushcart Prize. His anthology of 20th century poetry in translation, “Ecco Anthology of International Poetry,” was published by HarperCollins Publishers in March 2010.
Kaminsky’s poems have been translated into numerous languages and his books have been published in Holland, Russia, France, Spain, Romania, and China, where his poetry was awarded the Yinchuan International Poetry Prize.
As part of the selection process, applicants are examined by experts in their respective fields. The reviews are then forwarded onto a committee before being sent to the Board of Trustees for final approval.
“These artists, writers, scholars and scientists, represent the best of the best,” said Edward Hirsch, president of the Guggenheim Foundation. “It’s an honor to be able to support these individuals to do the work they were meant to do.”
Just three years ago, SDSU professor Kim Stringfellow of the School of Art and Design was named a Guggenheim Fellow in support of her research project entitled “The Mojave Project.”
This is the 94th year of the Guggenheim Fellowship.
