Egana Djabbarova (born 1992) is a Russian-born poet, essayist, and scholar raised in an Azerbaijani family in Yekaterinburg. The author of several poetry collections, she was forced to leave Russia in 2024 because of her LGBTQ activism and opposition to the war in Ukraine, and now lives in Hamburg, Germany. Her debut novel, “My Dreadful Body,” follows a young woman in a traditional Azerbaijani community who develops an undiagnosed illness causing pain, speech difficulties, and loss of muscular control. As her condition pushes her beyond the community’s expectations of a marriageable daughter, it also opens an unexpected path toward bodily and personal autonomy. Lisa C. Hayden’s translation from Russian was longlisted for the 2026 National Book Award for Translated Literature.