Alexander
Stessin

Alexander Stessin was born in Moscow, moving to the US as a teenager in 1990. He graduated from the University at Buffalo Poetics Program. He then went on to study French literature at the Sorbonne, followed by medical school at Cornell University. He has authored three collections of poetry and seven volumes of prose, including the recent novel "Troy Against the World" (2022). Since 2003, his poems, essays, short stories, and translations have appeared in all the major Russian language periodicals. I n 2020 he was awarded the prestigious "NOS" Literary Prize for his book "The New York Rounds". His other accolades include the Gumilev Poetry Prize (2007), Tamizdat Poetry Prize (2007), "Moscow Tally" Prize (2011), “Bella” Russian-Italian Poetry Prize (2014), “Russian Prize” (“Russkaja premija”) from the Boris Yeltsin Foundation (2014), and "Illuminator” Prize (2022). He has taught creative writing courses at the International Literary Seminars (Tbilisi, 2018) and Creative Writing School (Moscow, 2021). He lives in New York and works as an oncologist. Since 2010, he has also devoted his efforts to medical volunteer work in different parts of Africa.