Valentina Polukhina is married to Daniel Weissbort. She was born in Siberia
and educated at Kemerovo, Tula and Moscow universities. Between 1962 and
1973 she taught at Moscow Lumumba University and from 1973 to 2001 she was
Professor at Keele University, England. In addition to her publications on
poets such as Akhmatova, Pasternak, Tsvetaeva, Khlebnikov and Mandelshtam,
Valentina Polukhina is the author and editor of major studies of Brodsky,
including Joseph Brodsky: A Poet for Our Time (1989); Brodsky Through the
Eyes of his Contemporaries (1992); Brodskii glazami sovremennikov (1997;
2005); A Dictionary of Brodsky's Tropes (1995); Joseph Brodsky: The Art of a
Poem (1999); Brodsky as a Critic (2000); Kak rabotaet stikhotvorenie
Brodskogo (2002); Joseph Brodsky: Bolshaya kniga intervyu (2000, 2005).
    Valentina Polukhina has a particular interest in bringing living Russian
literature to English audiences. She has organised the visits of many
Russian writers and poets to Keele and other English universities. The post
of Russian Poet in Residence at the University of Keele, as well as the
Russian Poets' Fund, were established thanks to her efforts.