Voznesensky, Andrey Andreyevich (1933– )

Russian poet. Coming to prominence in the early 1960s, he was (along with Yevgeny Yevtushenko) one of the most original Soviet poets to emerge during the cultural and intellectual thaw that followed the death of Stalin. He gave many popular readings, both in Russia and the West; poems such as ‘Goya’ and ‘Antiworlds’ have reached an international audience.

Born in Moscow, he studied architecture at the Moscow Architectural Institute. For several years during the 1950s he studied poetry under Boris Pasternak (then a banned writer), developing a technically complex and witty style that was thoroughly modern in tone and imagery. In 1963 the Soviet authorities condemned his work, though this served only to enhance his reputation at home and abroad, his cause being defended by writers such as W H Auden and Robert Lowell. His later works include a rock musical Avos (1981).