Gugolev’s first poem was at age 3.

Question: When did poetry first spark your interest?

Yuli Gugolev: It's difficult to give you a precise answer, becasue the only thing I really remember that I was three years old when I composed my first poem, it was four lines. It was a gap for maybe 17 years.

Then when I was 17, 18, 20 years, I started to write something. It was awful of course. It was a certain moment when I say I will write all my life. I probably figured out writing of poetry is one of the biggest pleasures in my life.

Question: Is poetry just a hobby?

Yuli Gugolev: I do not live for, I don't write poetry to feed myself, so I don't earn money from poetry. And in Russia there are many professional writers if we mean that professional writer earns money with writing of poetry. Do you know many American poets with poetry writing and to live?

If so, probably it's different situtation in US than in Russia because as far as I know from my friend who lives in the States there are much more possibilities for the poet in the United States in a sense if I may say so, to live out of the context with his colleagues because there are many different poetry magazines. There a lot of funds, foundations which can give grants to the poet, many words, awards, awards, awards. So it's possible to, I don't know, suck money out of different donors. In Russia, situation is different may be because of economics, I don't know.

Recorded on: March 4, 2008