Valzhyna Mort

Valzhyna Mort was born Valhyna Martynava in 1981 in Minsk, Belarus. At 24, a poet and translator, Valzhyna’s work has been translated into many European languages and published in various literary magazines and anthologies, including an Anthology of Belarusian Poetry (Sofia, 2002). She is famed throughout Europe for her remarkable reading performances, which display a talent not normally associated with one so young. She is the winner of several poetry competitions in Belarus, and in 2004 she received the Crystal of Velenica Award in Slovenia, which is awarded for reading performance. Valzhyna’s first collection, I’m as Thin as Your Eyelashes (2005), is startlingly assured and reveals a powerful poetic voice. She is the 2005 recipient of the Gaude Polonia stipendium. She currently lives in the United States.