For a lyric poet, to listen more is only half the formula; to hear more is the goal. Nature, history, voices from great tribulation – these are elements that can give freshness to images and the values they carry. And those values, like spirits, swirl above borders, touch some more deeply than others, plant roots more deeply in a few – like those voices from Russian literature that belong to mankind. In An Image is a Place, it’s the few who speak from a place of love.
An Image is a Place is Kohan’s sixth publication with Ekstasis. In 2019, his dual language English-Russian collection of poetry, Hammers & Bells, won Best Book of Poetry at the Tarki Tau Book Fair in Dagestan, Russia.

About Randy Kohan’s previous books:

“A feast of soul language, with poems of moments that stop breath and leave us wonderstruck.”
Anna Marie Sewall, Edmonton Poet Laureate 2011 - 2013

“The ghosts of Russian poetry…poems are full of memorable lines.”
Alice Major, Edmonton Poet Laureate 2005 - 2007

“Rain of Naughts is a prayer. I read it in one breath, could not stop, felt my heart pulsing, almost Chekhovian.”
Ella Zeltserman, Award-winning Poet

“Randy Kohan’s poems crack the heart open.”
Pierrette Requier, Edmonton Poet Laureate 2015 - 2017

Randy Kohan is the author of five previous collections of poetry with Ekstasis Editions. After a four-year collaborative project with translators and an artist from Russia, his first collection, Hammers & Bells (2013) was translated into Russian and re-released as a dual-language work. The 2019 version of Hammers & Bells/Колокола и Молот was presented to audiences in Edmonton, Saint Petersburg, Moscow and Makhachkala, Dagestan where it won Best Book of Poetry at the annual Tarki-Tau Book Fair.
Born and raised in Regina, Saskatchewan, his educational background includes a Bachelor of Arts – Honours Degree from the University of Regina, and graduate studies in Russian History from the University of Alberta. He is a member of both the Edmonton Stroll of Poets and the Edmonton Russian Poetry Club. And since 1996, he has worked at a community employment resource centre in Edmonton where he lives with his wife, son and grandson.