Olga Sedakova (poet)

In this name that follows Eastern Slavic naming customs, the patronymic is Alexandrovna and the family name is Sedakova.
Olga Sedakova in Florence, 2006

Olga Alexandrovna Sedakova (Russian: Ольга Александровна Седакова; 26 December 1949 in Moscow) is a Russian poet and translator. She has been described as "one of the best confessional Christian poets writing in Russian today".[1] Sedakova is also recognized as a philosopher and humanist.[2]

Sedakova was born in Moscow to the family of a military engineer.[3] At an early age, she traveled with her father overseas, enabling her to gain a different view of the world.[3] She graduated from Moscow State University (faculty of philology) in 1973.[3] Subsequently, she went to graduate school. In 1985, she obtained a degree of Candidate of Sciences (philology).[4] She befriended Venedikt Yerofeyev and kept the manuscript of Moscow-Petushki in her house.[5]

A deeply religious person, Sedakova started writing poetry in 1960. Her Christian themes made her Neoclassical works unpublishable in the Soviet Union until 1989. As of 2014, she has authored seven books of poetry. Her poems were translated into a number of languages including English, French, German, and Italian.[4]

It was through her mentor Sergey Averintsev that Sedakova became involved in the ecumenist movement. She is known to have exchanged poetry collections with John Paul II who presented the inaugural Vladimir Solovyov Prize to her (1998).[6] She also criticised the Russian Orthodox Church for taking an intolerant stance on other forms of Christian faith.[6]

Sedakova is the recipient of several major literary prizes, including the Andrei Bely Prize (1980), Paris Prize for Russian Poets (1991), European Prize in Poetry (1995), Vladimir Solovyov Prize for Advancement of Culture (1998),[7] and Solzhenitsyn Prize (2001).[8]

  1. ^ Reconstructing the Canon: Russian Writing in the 1980s (ed. Arnold Barrett McMillin). Taylor & Francis, 2000. ISBN 9789057025938; p. 33.
  2. ^ Sedakova, Olga (2010). Freedom to Believe: Philosophical and Cultural Essays. Translated by Yastremski, Slava. Cranbury, NJ: Associated University Presses. p. 9. ISBN 978-0-8387-5691-1.
  3. ^ a b c Sandler, Stephanie; Khotimsky, Maria; Krimmel, Margarita; Novikov, Oleg (2017). The Poetry and Poetics of Olga Sedakova: Origins, Philosophies, Points of Contention. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press. p. 194. ISBN 978-0-299-32010-2.
  4. ^ a b Ольга Александровна Седакова (in Russian). Журнальный зал в РЖ, "Русский журнал". Retrieved 11 September 2014.
  5. ^ "Школа Злословия - Ольга Седакова (4)". YouTube. Retrieved 9 January 2015.
  6. ^ a b Седакова, Ольга; Sedakova, Olʹga Aleksandrovna; Kelly, Catriona (2003). Poems and Elegies. ISBN 9780838755587. Retrieved 9 January 2015.
  7. ^ Седакова, Ольга; Sedakova, Olʹga Aleksandrovna; Kelly, Catriona (2003). Poems and Elegies. Cranbury, NJ: Associated University Presses. p. 21. ISBN 0-8387-5558-5.
  8. ^ Ольга Седакова (in Russian). Новая литературная карта России. Retrieved 11 September 2014.