Ilona Yazhbin Chavasse was born in Belarus and, together with her family, emigrated to the United States in 1989. She has translated the work of Aleksandr Skorobogatov, Galina Scherbakova, Darya Bobyleva, and Elena Kostyuchenko. Educated at Vassar College, Oxford University, and University College London, she lives in London. She is the translator of When the Whales Leave and two other novels by Yuri Rytkheu.