West Hollywood has for several decades been home to a large community of Russian-speaking émigrés from the lands of the former Soviet Union, but the history of Russophone LA goes back much farther. Throughout the 20th century, thousands of people fleeing war, revolution, and repression in the Russian Empire and the USSR found peace, if not always happiness, in Southern California. Among them were poets like Alexander Voloshin (1886-1960), Vladimir Korvin-Piotrovsky (1891-1966), Vladislav Ellis (1913-1975), and Vladimir Dukelsky (1903-1969), who gained fame as a composer and lyricist under the name Vernon Duke. Boris Dralyuk will share his translations of their work. These poems of exile have only grown more poignant and timely in light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which has brought a new wave of refugees to the Southland.
