anastasia ushakova – анастасия ушакова
I am a bilingual writer, poet, academic and activist based in the North of England.
I was born in Russia and was raised between Moscow and Kharkiv, Ukraine. Since 2010, I have been based in the UK. For a while I could call London my home, then Edinburgh and now, Lancaster.
In Russian, my first hybrid-bilingual collection of essays, poetry and fragmentary prose ‘Cycles of Nature’ is published by shell(f), 2026.
Currently, I am also working on two projects in English: a poetry pamphlet that also touches on topics of natural cycles, grief, science, war and conflict; and the long form/essay about politics of naturalisation and becoming of a citizen of a country that draws on parallels with natural processes of adaptation. In the latter I am also reflecting on how migration affects our perception of self, the world, language and sense of home using existentialist lenses. I think what I am asking is what citizenship really means.
My formal background is in economics, social sciences and applied statistics. I finished my PhD at UCL in 2018, followed by a few teaching and research roles until I settled as a lecturer in 2021. I research and teach various things but also support academics and researchers in exile. As for creative work and writing, since 2019 I was a student on courses of creative writing at the University of Edinburgh, Russian School of Literary Practice, Lancaster University and Arvon. I also had privilege to study under mentorship of poets and writers such as Oksana Vasyakina, Eoghan Walls, Anthony (Vahni) Capildeo, Clare Shaw, Amy Liptrot, Galina Rymbu and Tiffany Murray.
Recent Literary Publications:
landslide – не(мой) язык (long poem) – Дискурс/Discourse, 2026
Burnout (essay), Ache Magazine, 2026
Погружение, Переводы стихотворений Адриенны Рич, гало, 2025
Петли/Loops (visual poetry), Resistance and Opposition Art Review (ROAR), 2025
Земля-земля, ты все еще нас слышишь?/Earth-earth, can you still hear us? (selection of poetry), Prosodia, 2024
Дом/Home (selection of poetry), Фальтер/Falter, 2024
it is good for you (poetry), Full House Literary, 2024
Стокгольмский синдром/Stockholm syndrome and other poems (selection of poetry), Resistance and Opposition Art Review (ROAR) – English Translation ,2024
anastasiaushakova.co.uk 