Osip Emilievich Mandelstam was Born in January, 1891, in Warsaw, Poland. He was raised in the imperial capital of St. Petersburg, Russia. Mandelstam attended the renowned Tenishev School and later studied at the Sorbonne, the University of Heidelberg, and the University of St. Petersburg, though he left off his studies to pursue writing. Mandelstam spent his later years in exile, serving sentences for counter-revolutionary activities in various work camps, until his death on December 27, 1938, in the Gulag Archipelago.

Ilya Bernstein’s collection of poetry is called Attention and Man (Ugly Duckling Presse, 2003). His poetry, prose, and translations have appeared in Ars Interpres,Circumference, Fulcrum, 6×6, Persephone, Moon City Review, and Res. He is the editor of Osip Mandelstam: New Translations (UDP, 2006). He translates for a living and lives in New York City.