Katherine E. Young
About the Poet
Katherine E. Young (b. 1963)
Born on January 8, 1963, in Greensboro, North Carolina, Katherine E. Young graduated from Smith College in 1983. She earned a master’s degree in international affairs from Columbia University in 1985 and a master’s degree in fine arts (poetry) from the University of Maryland-College Park in 2010. A former specialist in Soviet studies, translator from Russian, editor, and poet, Young is known for writing that draws on her study of Russian-language poets and incorporates aspects of formal poetry in English, while at the same time prioritizing natural syntax and music in her lines. Young has translated work by Anna Starobinets (memoir), Akram Aylisli (fiction), and numerous Russian-language poets from Kazakhstan, Russia, and Ukraine, including two chapbooks by Russian poet Inna Kabysh. She advocates on the international stage for the human rights of Azerbaijani author Akram Aylisli, whose books were burned in 2013 and who has lived under de facto house arrest in Azerbaijan since 2016. In 2026, Young was shortlisted for the 2026 EBRD Literature Prize for her translation of Aylisli’s People and Trees. Translation-related awards include the Granum Foundation Translation Prize, the Pushkin House Translation Residency, a National Endowment for the Arts translation fellowship, and a Hawthornden fellowship.
With the exception of her studies and several years spent in Moscow, Russia, Young has lived in Virginia since childhood. From 2016-2018, she served as the inaugural Poet Laureate for Arlington, Virginia. Her collections of poetry include Woman Drinking Absinthe (2021) and Day of the Border Guards (2014 Miller Williams Arkansas Poetry Prize finalist). She is the editor of Written in Arlington (2020), an anthology of poems about Arlington, Virginia, and a digital archive containing some of the poems, Spoken in Arlington, a project supported by an Arlington County individual artist grant. She currently serves on the board of advisors for the Alan Cheuse International Writers Center at George Mason University.
Region
Northern
Virginia City or County Affiliation
Arlington
Years of Residence in Virginia
50+
Current City/State of Residence
Arlington, VA
Gender
Female
Race/Ethnicity
White
Year of Birth
1963
Keywords/Tags
translation, Soviet/Russian history, American history, domestic violence
Website
Published Works or Performances
Translations:
People and Trees by Akram Aylisli, translation (Plamen Press, 2024)
Stone Dreams by Akram Aylisli, translation (Academic Studies Press, 2022)
Full length, published books include:
Woman Drinking Absinthe (Alan Squire Publishing, 2021)
Written in Arlington, anthology (Paycock Press, 2020)
Look at Him by Anna Starobinets, translation (Three String Books, 2020)
Boris Pasternak: A Poetic Calendar, translation (B.S.G.-Press Book Company, 2019)
Farewell, Aylis by Akram Aylisli, translation (Academic Studies Press, 2018)
Blue Birds and Red Horses by Inna Kabysh, translation (Toad Press, 2018)
Day of the Border Guards (University of Arkansas Press, 2014)
Two Poems by Inna Kabysh, translation (Artist’s Proof Editions, 2014)
Selected Individual Poems or Performances
"hush: unbutton sunset" published by Arlington County, VA, as part of the Poet Laureate program
"Driving to Juniata" published in qarrtsiluni
"The Bear" originally published in Prairie Schooner, republished in Redux
"Leaving Home," "Soup," and "Postcards from the Floating World" published online in Connotation Press, an Online Artifact
“Speaking Russian,” “The Parrot Flaubert,” “Yellow Flowers,” “Names for Snow,” “What’s Left,” “Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts,” “Thirty Years Later” and “The Percussive Quality of Light" published by Innisfree Poetry Journal
Katherine E. Young