Thank you to the small group who attended HLAA-TC book club on Tuesday, November 26th to discuss the book of poetry “Deaf Republic” by Ilya Kaminsky. We didn’t have the author join us. Following is a list of points discussed with links. Reminder that we WON’T be having book club in December and have instead moved that book to January (more information at the end of this summary).

Summary of Deaf Republic Book Club:

• Author’s website: https://www.ilyakaminsky.com/
• Ilya Kaminsky was born in 1977 in the former Soviet Union and immigrated to the US at 16. He lost much of his hearing at age 4 due to a misdiagnosed case of mumps.
• “Deaf Republic” is a collection of poems that tell a story. It’s a story told in 2 acts about the shooting of a deaf boy in a public square.
• An explanation of the poem that book club member Wendy found: “The purpose of Ilya Kaminsky’s poem “Deaf Republic” is to use the metaphor of deafness and sign language to critique complacency in the face of violence and oppression, prompting readers to confront their own inaction by depicting a fictional town where citizens choose silence as a form of resistance against a brutal regime, essentially asking the reader to consider what it means to “listen” to the suffering of others and take action against injustice.”
• National Endowment for the Arts article includes a brief bio, discussion questions and a video with Ilya Kaminsky discussing the book
• “Deaf Republic” was published by Graywolf Press (a local Minneapolis publisher), publisher’s page on the book and author: https://www.graywolfpress.org/books/deaf-republic
• The YouTube video I played a portion of where he reads from the book (all selections he is reading are from “Deaf Republic” and he chose to read the first one in a different manner/style of voice (more pronounced Russian accent) because it was the prologue (my guess). This video was taken at a reading before the book was released at Harvard University on December 4, 2018 and the book was released on March 5, 2019.
• A biography and selection of poems by Kaminsky can be found on the Poetry Foundation Website
• The New Yorker did an animated/illustrated version of part of “Deaf Republic” that was published before the book’s release
• Several reviews of it help with how read it:
  • Kenyon Review
  • The Androit Journal
  • Poetry School Review
  • Amazon reader reviews (book club member Leisla recommended reading some of these reviews).
  • Goodreads reader reviews
• This blog post talks about “how to read and understand poetry (something we talked about during book club as many members were unsure how to interpret poetry.
• For another example of other poets reading their poems I found Maya Angelou reading her poem “Phenomenal Woman.” (she has a very smooth lyrical style (I saw her twice, and she was amazing).
• There are many interesting styles of poetry to listen to, in particular “poetry slams” or “slam poetry” 

As mentioned, we won’t have book club in December as we all take time to spend with our families, etc. I will be putting together our book list and please send me suggestions social@hlaatc.org (I have to make sure they are accessible for our group by being on BARD= Braille Audio Reading Download for some of our members).

The January book and book club:

JANUARY 2025: (This book was origInally scheduled for December 2024 and we are moving it to January.) “Sitting pretty: the view from my ordinary, resilient, disabled body” by Rebekah Taussig (nonfiction), BARD: DB 101063. Tuesday, January 28th, 7:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. Central Time [ZOOM-Register Here]. Amazon Book Summary: A memoir-in-essays from disability advocate and creator of the Instagram account @sitting_pretty Rebekah Taussig, processing a lifetime of memories to paint a beautiful, nuanced portrait of a body that looks and moves differently than most. Growing up as a paralyzed girl during the 90s and early 2000s, Rebekah Taussig only saw disability depicted as something monstrous (The Hunchback of Notre Dame), inspirational (Helen Keller), or angelic (Forrest Gump). None of this felt right; and as she got older…

Thank you everyone for your participation, enthusiasm, friendship and interest in book club this past year and all the previous years. You have all made it keep going from our humble beginnings during COVID. Now we have talked to around 16 authors, in several countries and our regular members are from across the US. Hopefully 2025 brings many more fantastic books and guests, and remember ALL are welcome at book club (no hearing loss is necessary, so please let your friends know about us). I will be posting the 2025 reading schedule once it is decided.