The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) has named the award-winning book of poetry Deaf Republic by School of Literature, Media, and Communication Bourne Chair in Poetry Ilya Kaminsky to its Big Read program for 2022–2023. The 15 titles selected for the NEA Big Read represent a diverse range of contemporary themes, voices, and perspectives, according to the organization.

Short descriptions for each of the featured books are available on the NEA Big Read website, with additional resources for the new titles to be published in summer 2022.

Deaf Republic follows the lives of ordinary citizens living in an occupied country who go deaf the moment a boy with a hearing impairment is shot and killed by soldiers. It was inspired by Kaminsky’s own experience of navigating his youth in the Soviet Union as a person living with hearing impairment.

Kaminsky was named a finalist for the 2019 National Book Award for Deaf Republic.

The book also was named as a Notable Book by The New York Times for 2019. It also was named Best Book of 2019 by numerous other publications, including Washington Post, Times Literary Supplement, The Telegraph, Publishers Weekly, The Guardian, Irish Times, Vanity Fair, Lithub, Library Journal, and New Statesman.

Read more about Kaminksy in this feature article.