American Academy of Arts and Letters honors TU professor - The University of Tulsa
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American Academy of Arts and Letters honors TU professor

Photograph of Boris Dralyuk smiling and wearing a blue shirt
Boris Dralyuk

The American Academy of Arts and Letters has announced that Presidential Professor of English & Creative Writing Boris Dralyuk is a recipient of a 2024 Arts and Letters Award. This prize is given annually to eight writers in any genre to honor and encourage their creative work. It follows Dralyuk’s 2023 National Book Critics Circle’s Gregg Barrios Book in Translation Prize for his work on “Grey Bees.” 

“We are proud of Boris’ ongoing accomplishments and deserved recognition. Our students benefit immensely from having access to faculty who are honored on a national and global level,” said TU President Brad R. Carson. “The University of Tulsa is committed to supporting and celebrating the best talent and teachers.” 

An internationally respected poet, translator, and critic, Dralyuk took up his current position in The University of Tulsa’s Kendall College of Arts & Sciences in August 2022. Widely published, Dralyuk’s work has appeared in the Times Literary Supplement, The New York Review of Books, Granta, and other premier publications. His latest book is “My Hollywood and Other Poems.” 

“This award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters is special to me for a number of reasons,” Dralyuk said. “First, it’s a great honor to receive it from a jury of authors whose writing I so deeply admire. Second, it confirms for me that I’m on the right path – that my diverse body of work makes for a coherent whole. And third, since my wife, fellow Presidential Professor Jennifer Croft, received the same award last year, I feel we’re now a little closer to even.” 

In addition to teaching at TU, Dralyuk is working on a book about his hometown, Odesa, Ukraine, which continues to suffer aerial bombardment by Russian forces. “I can’t avoid the war,” he noted, “but my book isn’t directly about it. Instead, I think of it as a showcase for the city’s literary and musical jewels, a celebration of its people’s inimitable humor and irrepressible resilience.” 

At the same time, Dralyuk is writing poems and translating a long comic epic in couplets by Alexander Voloshin, who left Ukraine during the country’s civil war in the 1920s and settled in Hollywood, where he worked as an extra in the film industry. 

“As The University of Tulsa elevates its commitment to the arts and humanities, we anticipate further accolades from prestigious organizations such as the American Academy of Arts and Letters,” said TU Provost George Justice. “Writers, poets, composers, performers, and artists are central to the higher education experience. We encourage students from all disciplines to immerse themselves in the liberal arts, engage in new experiences, and explore their own creativity.”