Gross McCleaf Gallery and Blue Stoop are pleased to welcome poet Ilya Kaminsky for a special poetry reading event in conjunction with James Stewart's exhibition: Recent Work - Influenced By Ilya Kaminsky's "Deaf Republic".  Following the reading, Philadelphia-based writer Sara Novic will be moderating a discussion with Kaminsky.

This event will run for approximately one hour and is offered both in-person and virtually on Zoom to provide a safe and accessible viewing experience for all. ASL interpretation will be provided along with priority seating upon request. Out of an abundance of caution, in-person attendees are required to present their COVID vaccination card (a copy or digital image will be accepted), and masks are also required for the duration of the event. 

We encourage attendees to visit James Stewart's exhibition before or after the reading. Stewart's work is on view in the gallery from September 1 - October 23 with an opening reception from 2 - 4 pm on September 18. Locally owned bookstore The Head & The Hand will be onsite with copies of Kaminsky's & Novic's work for purchase. 

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Ilya Kaminsky was born in Odessa, former Soviet Union in 1977, and arrived to the United States in 1993, when his family was granted asylum by the American government. He is the author of Deaf Republic (Graywolf Press) and Dancing In Odessa (Tupelo Press) and co-editor and co-translated many other books, including Ecco Anthology of International Poetry (Harper Collins) and Dark Elderberry Branch: Poems of Marina Tsvetaeva (Alice James Books). Deaf Republic was The New York Times’ Notable Book for 2019, and was also named Best Book of 2019 by dozens of other publications, including Washington Post, Times Literary Supplement, The Telegraph, Publishers Weekly, The Guardian, Irish Times, Vanity Fair, Lithub, Library Journal, and New Statesman. In 2019, Kaminsky was selected by BBC as “one of the 12 artists that changed the world.” Currently, he holds the Bourne Chair in Poetry at Georgia Institute of Technology and lives in Atlanta.

Sara Novic is the author of the novel Girl at War (Random House, 2015), which won an American Library Association Alex Award, was an LA Times Book Prize finalist, and is available in thirteen more languages.
Her nonfiction project America is Immigrants, short illustrated biographies of Americans hailing from all 193+ countries is also available from Random House. Her second novel, True Biz, is forthcoming in 2022.
Sara holds an MFA from Columbia University, where she studied fiction and literary translation, and lives in Philadelphia.