University of California, Riverside
Department of Creative Writing

presents:

Ilya Kaminsky

part of

49th UCR Writers Week Festival 2026

Writers Week is the longest-running, free literary event in California and features the most renowned authors of our day alongside those at the start of promising careers. writersweek.ucr.edu

Josh Emmons, Professor
Allison White, Professor
Co-Directors, Writers Week

Download the 2026 Writers Week Poster

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BIO

Ilya Kaminsky was born in Odessa, former Soviet Union, in 1977, and arrived to the U.S. in 1993, when his family was granted asylum by the government. He is the author of Deaf Republic (Graywolf Press, 2019) and Dancing In Odessa (Tupelo Press, 2004) and co-editor and co-translator of many other books. His work was a finalist for the National Book Award and won the Los Angeles Times Book Award, the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, the National Jewish Book Award, the Whiting Award, the American Academy of Arts and Letters’ Metcalf Award, and Poetry magazine’s Levinson Prize, among other honors. He currently teaches in Princeton and lives in New Jersey.

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Tuesday - Friday, May 5 - 8, 2026

Free and open to the public

In-person: INTS 1113 (unless otherwise noted below)

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PARKING

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49th UCR Writers Week Featured Writers 

Caro De Robertis, Anel Flores, A.M. Sosa, Emily Weinstein, Jose Valdi, Emily Doyle, Johnathan Lethem, Ilya Kaminsky, D.A. Powell, Viet Nguyen, and more.

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SCHEDULE
subject to change
 

Tuesday, May 5:

• 11 a.m. Caro De Robertis (Fiction writer)

• 1 p.m. Anel Flores (Fiction writer)

• 3 p.m. A.M. Sosa (Fiction writer)

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Wednesday, May 6

• 11 a.m. Emily Weinstein (Nonfiction writer) CANCELED

• 1 p.m. Jose Vadi (Essayist and Poet)

• 3 p.m. Prageeta Sharma (Poet)

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Thursday, May 7

• 11 a.m. Mosaic Reading (UCR literary journal-affiliated undergraduates)

• 1 p.m. Emily Doyle (Fiction writer and UCR MFA alum)

• 3 p.m. Jonathan Lethem (Fiction writer)

• 5 p.m. "Mija" film screening (INTS 1128)

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Friday, May 8

• 11. a.m. Ilya Kaminsky (Poet)

• 1 p.m. D.A. Powell (Poet)

• 3 p.m. Viet Thanh Nguyen (Fiction writer)

• 4:45 p.m. – 6 p.m. MFA Students Reading

• 7 p.m. - UCR alumnus Ching-In Chen (at the Heritage House)

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SPECIAL THANKS

The 49th Writers Week 2026 is hosted by the UCR Department of Creative Writing.

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SPONSORS

CHASS Dean’s Office, the Center for Ideas & Society, Inland Empire magazine, the National Book Award Society

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BOOK PURCHASES
Cellar Door Books is our recommended local independent store. Be sure to stop by their page.

Information: writersweek@ucr.edu

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• FB UCR Writers Resist