Carol V. Davis | Into the Arms of Pushkin: Poems of St. Petersburg

October 7th, 2008

Into the Arms of Pushkin : Poems of St Petersburg

Carol V. Davis

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Carol V. Davis is the granddaughter of Jewish immigrants from Russia. Her fascination with Russia, aided by a Fulbright grant, drew her to St Petersburg in the mid 1990s. Over the next decade, she divided her time between the US and Russia, where, as an American-born Jew, she was an outsider in Russian society. This collection of poems expresses the struggle with language barriers and cultural differences — struggles heightened as Davis helped her children adjust to their new daily life. Inspired by Russia’s rich history, its economic changes, and landscape, these poems express a unique perspective of Russia.

Carol V. Davis lives in Los Angeles, California, USA. Her poems have appeared in magazines in the US, Ireland and Israel. American magazines include Mid-American Review, Kalliope, Roanoke Review, South Dakota Reviewand anthologies, including Nice Jewish Girls (Plume/Penguin,1996). Irish publications include Cyphers, West 47/Galway Arts Centre and the Stinging Fly. In 1994 she received one of the Anna Davidson Rosenberg Awards for Poems on the Jewish Experience (USA) and also won the Reuben Rose Poetry Competition in Israel. In 1995 she won the Black Rock Press Broadside Competition, The Book Arts Press of the Univ. of Nevada. She is the author of a chapbook, Letters From Prague, (Paper Bag Press, 1991) based on the letters of Franz Kafka to his fiancee. She spent the 1996-97 academic year as a senior Fulbright scholar in creative writing in St. Petersburg, Russia, where she taught modern (19th and 20th century) Jewish literature at Petersburg Jewish University and wrote. Her book, It’s Time to Talk About…, was published in St. Petersburg, Russia in November, 1997, in a bilingual edition. In May, 2000 Ireland, she received the Strokestown Poetry Award, 2nd place, Co. Roscommon, Ireland.