Sergey Tenyatnikov was born in 1981 in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia. Lyric poet, video poet and translator. He writes poems and short prose in German and Russian. He earned his Master’s Degree in Political Science, East European History and Russian at Leipzig University. Between 2007 and 2008 he also studied at The University of Manchester. 


His Russian poems were published in acclaimed Russian literature magazines from Belgium, Kazakhstan, Ireland, Russia, Germany, Ukraine and the USA. His German poems appeared in literary magazines “Ostragehege”, “Rhein” and anthologies “buterbrod”, “Der Maulkorb”, “Das (hoch-)gelobte Land”, “Die Abschaffung des Ponys”, “Schlafende Hunde” etc. 


In early 2017, he presented his debut poetry book with Russian and German poems entitled “Aus deinem Auge schlüpft der Kuckuck” (The Cuckoo Is Hatching Out Of Your Eye). It was published by Lychatz Verlag. In 2019 his second collection of poetry “Plutarchs Kopf” (Plutarchˈs Head) appeared at ostbooks-verlag in Herford. In 2019 also appeared his first poetry book “Остров Гутенберга” (Gutenbergˈs Island) in Russia. His second book of poetry The Tickles (ru. Щекотки) was published 2021 by STiHI (ru. СТиХИ) in Moscow. 


Tenyatnikov is the award winner of the poetry festival Emigrantskaya Lyra-2014 in Liège, Belgium and the award winner of the Astafyev Foundation in 2015. In 2021 he was awarded The David Burliuk Prize (ru. Международная Отметина имени отца русского футуризма Давида Бурлюка) for experimental poetry. He is a member of The International Academy of Zaum (Academy of Transrational Language, ru. Академии Зауми). Furthermore, he was the runner-up for videopoetry in the avantgarde contest Lapa Asora 2015 in Moscow. He also participated in several literature festivals in Belgium, Germany and the Crimea. 


His portfolio also comprises translations of Russian poems into German, including the book of poems “Anfang der Religion” (The Beginning of Religion) by Gleb Shulpyakov, published 2015 by hochroth Verlag, and a fine selection of poems by Sergej Birjukov, Alexandr Kabanov, Konstantin Kedrov, Yelena Kazyuba, Yegor Letov and Anatolij Grinvald. 

Sergey Tenyatnikov lives in Moscow. 



Publications in English


Anatoly Kudryavitsky (ed.): MESSAGE-DOOR. An Anthology of Contemporary Surrealist Poetry from Russia. Includes poems by Sergey Biryukov, Anna Glazova, Tatyana Grauz, Dmitry Grigoriev, Anatoly Kudryavitsky, Yuri Milorava, Sasha Moroz and Sergey Tenyatnikov. Bilingual English/Russian, 2020, ISBN 978-1-912963-17-1


René Kanzler (ed.): The Transnational Vol. 6. A Literary Magazine. 2019, ISBN13: 9783748171027



Participation in book fairs, festivals, workshops, etc. (Selection)


The Poetic City Poetry Cinema in Canberra, Australia 2021


Festival of Hope 2. From Russia With Poetry. Videopoetry, Slovenia 2021


1. Internationales Alexei-Parschtschikow-Literaturfestival, Berlin 2019


ViceVersa Russisch-Deutsche Lyrikübersetzerwerkstatt, Übersetzerhaus Looren, Schweiz 2018


Autorenworkshop „20. Irseer Pegasus“, Schwabenakademie Irsee 2018


Leipziger Buchmesse, Messegelände 2012 u. Stadtbibliothek, Leipzig 2017


Fachtagung „Feder-Kuli-Tastatur“, Landsmannschaft der Deutschen aus Russland e. V., Schweinfurt 2015, 2016 u. Nürnberg 2017


Lausitzer Lyrikfestival, Senftenberg 2014, 2015 u. 2017


Russian Poetry Slam, Hamburg 2015 u. 2016


Waldstock Festival, Pegnitz 2015


6. Internationales Poesiefestival „Emigrantskaja Lira“, Lüttich Belgien 2014


23. Filmfestival, Cottbus 2013


Interkulturelle Woche, Leipzig 2013


11. Internationales Literaturfestival „Woloschinskij Sentjabr“, Krim 2013


16. Leipziger literarischer Herbst, Leipzig 2012


Literatur- und Kunstfest LyrikPark, Hildesheim 2012