Bakhyt Kenjeev

Bakhyt Shukurullaevich Kenjeev was a Russian poet and writer of Kazakh descent.

Biography

Kenjeev was born in Shymkent, Kazakh SSR on 2 August 1950. In 1953 his parents moved to Moscow. He graduated from Lomonosov Moscow State University with the equivalent of an M.S. degree in chemistry. In 1975, he was a founding member of the "Moscow Time" group of poets, with Alexei Tsvetkov, Alexander Soprovsky, and Sergey Gandlevsky. In 1982, Kenjeev immigrated to Canada; his first book of poetry was published by Ardis Publishing in 1984.
After Perestroika, Kenjeev frequently visited Russia, Ukraine, and other post-Soviet countries; he was a regular guest at numerous poetry festivals, including the Moscow Bienale, Kievskie Lavry, Leningradskie Mosty, Blue Metropolis Montreal festival, and the international poetry festival in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and published several volumes of poetry. Many of his poems were translated into English, French, Kazakh, German, Swedish, and other languages.
Kenjeev lived in New York and Montreal. He died after a short illness on 26 June 2024, at the age of 73. He was buried at Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York.