Russians offered insight into American literature and culture

Colta.ru, an online portal focused on culture and society, has teamed up with PEN America, an association of poets, essayists and novelists, to launch the "Written in the USA" project. Four popular American authors who have not been translated into Russian and are not well known in the country will come to Moscow for seminars and talks. The project’s aim is to present a broader view of what is happening in America’s literary world than is offered by currently translated works.

“Our understanding of American literature and culture is mostly determined by translations into Russian, which are mainly top-level bestsellers,” Maria Stepanova, Colta.ru’s editor-in-chief explains. “Clearly there are many works beyond this that are sidelined and inaccessible for ordinary Russian readers. I feel that our view of American literature still needs to be improved; there is a lot of knowledge we need to add.”

On April 21, the first writer, Yiyun Li, will take part in a talk with the renowned literary critic Anna Narinskaya. Li will then give a lecture in the Stanislavsky Electrotheater on April 22.

Both events are free if you register online: a talk with Yiyun Li on April 21 here>>> and a lecture on April 22 here>>>.

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