READ RUSSIA comes to London

Read Russia, a dynamic initiative to introduce Russia’s contemporary writers and literary heritage to new audiences, invites British readers to celebrate Russian literature throughout London in April 2013.

Coinciding with the London Book Fair, Read Russia’s programme of events will bring Russia’s leading authors, translators, scholars and publishing insiders to the British capital to engage with readers on contemporary trends in Russian literary culture and Russia’s rich literary traditions.

Special project: Read Russia!

Last year, Read Russia made a splash at international book fairs in Frankfurt, Barcelona, Vienna – and especially New York, where it was guest of honour at BookExpo America. Read Russia’s arrival in London in 2013 promises to be a rousing prologue to the Year of Russian Culture in Britain in 2014, which will offer a real feast for fans of Russian literature and culture.

This year’s event is much more than just a taste of things to come. Russia’s Open Book, a new featurelength documentary hosted by Stephen Fry and directed by acclaimed filmmaker Paul Mitchell, has its world premiere in London in April. This Intelligent Television production gets inside the minds of some of Russian literature’s brightest lights and explores the continuing mystique and power of the Russian novel.

Russia’s Open Book won’t be on television worldwide until the autumn, but Read Russia offers the chance to catch a sneak preview, and learn more about the story behind the film, at a press launch on 14 April.

Many of the writers who appear in the film, including Ludmila Ulitskaya, Dmitry Bykov and Anna Starobinets, will be meeting with readers in London, where they will join translators, literary scholars and publishing professionals in discussion – both at the Earls Court Exhibition Centre (15-17 April) and around the capital throughout the week. Featured writers include distinguished authors like Oleg Pavlov and Maria Galina, as well as the leading lights of the young generation Debut Prize winners Alexander Snegirev, Irina Bogatyreva – and well-known UK-based writers like Zinovy Zinik, Irina Kirillova, Layla Alexander-Garrett and Hamid Ismailov.

More information is available online at: www.readrussia2013.com.

Program of Russia's events on London Book Fair

15 April

Who is the Russian Writer? with Igor Sakhnovsky, Anna Starobinets, Oleg Pavlov, Maria Galina and Hamid Ismailov

11:00 am – 12:00 pm, Earls Court 2, London Book Fair, Piccadilly Room

Official Opening of the Russian Stand

12:00 - 12:30 pm, Earls Court 2, London Book Fair, Stand Y 455

Voices of Contemporary Russian Literature: The Big Book Prize, Russia’s Biggest Literary

Award, with Igor Sakhnovsky, Ludmila Ulitskaya and Maria Galina

12:30 - 1:30 pm, Earls Court 2, London Book Fair, Stand Y 455

Women’s Writing and the Disabled in New Russian Prose, with Alexander Snegirev and Irina Bogatyreva

12:30 - 1:00 pm, Earls Court 2, London Book Fair, Piccadilly Room

Translating Dr Zhivago and the Short Stories of Leskov, with Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky

1:00 - 2:00 pm, Earls Court 2, London Book Fair, Piccadilly Room

The Next Generation’s Choice: the Kniguru Children’s Literature Prize

1:30 - 2:30 pm, Earls Court 2, London Book Fair, Stand Y 455

The 26th Moscow International Book Fair: A Preview

2:00 - 2:30 pm, Earls Court 2, London Book Fair, Stand Y 455

The Presentation of the Boris Yeltsin Presidential Center

2:30 - 3:00 pm, Earls Court 2, London Book Fair, Stand Y 455

Russia Today through the Eyes of Young Authors

3:30 - 4:30 pm, Earls Court 2, London Book Fair, Stand Y 455

Orenburg Publishing Programmes

4:30 - 5:30 pm, Earls Court 2, London Book Fair, Stand Y 455

Anna Starobinets Book Signing

5:00 - 5:30 pm, Earls Court 1, London Book Fair, Stand N 500 (Hesperus Publishing)

16 April

Introducing Russian Literature to New Audiences: The Institute of Translation

10:00 - 11:00 am, Earls Court 2, London Book Fair, Stand Y 455

Read Russia Prize and Read Russia English Language Prize

11:00 am - 12:00 pm, Earls Court 2, London Book Fair, Stand Y 455

Confronting the Modern World: New Russian Literature for Children and Young Adults

12:30 - 1:30 pm, Earls Court 2, London Book Fair, Stand Y 455

Translating Contemporary and Classical Russian Literature: Approaches and Strategies

1:30 - 3:30 pm, Earls Court 2, London Book Fair, Stand Y 455

Interactive Translation Workshop

3:30 - 5:00 pm, Earls Court 2, London Book Fair, Stand Y 455

The Hawks of Peace. The Notes of the Russian Ambassador by Dmitry Rogozin

Moderated by Olga Ro

05:00-06:30 pm, Earls Court 2, London Book Fair, Stand Y 455

17 April

Tatiana Daniliyants reads from her Poetry Collection, Read Noise

12:00 - 12:30 pm, Earls Court 2, London Book Fair, Stand Y 455

Russia Beyond the Headlines, A Round Table with Robert Chandler, Maxim Hodak, Ignaty Dyakov, Natasha Perova

1:00 - 2:00 pm, Earls Court 2, London Book Fair, Stand Y 455

Russian Post-Modernism: A Discussion with Hamid Ismailov

2:30 - 3:00 pm, Earls Court 2, London Book Fair, Stand Y 455

Andrei Tarkovsky: The Collector of Dreams, with Layla Alexander-Garrett

3:00 - 3:30 pm, Earls Court 2, London Book Fair, Stand Y 455

The Calvert Journal: A Guide to Creative Russia

3:30 - 4:00 pm, Earls Court 2, London Book Fair, Stand Y 455

Literary Showcase

12 April

Irina Kirillova on her memoir, Encounters with Remarkable Russians

7:00 - 9:00 pm, Waterstones Piccadilly, Russian Bookshop

14 April

Young Writers: Reflecting Russia Today, with Debut Prize winners Alexander Snegirev and

Irina Bogatyreva

2:00 – 4:00 pm, Waterstones Piccadilly, Russian Bookshop

15 April

Literary Matrix: Writers on Writers. Oleg Pavlov on Andrei Platonov

Moderated by Robert Chandler, translator

1:00 – 2:00 pm, Pushkin House

In Conversation with Igor Sakhnovsky

Moderated by Maxim Hodak, publisher

6:00 - 7:00 pm, Waterstones Piccadilly, Russian Bookshop

In Conversation with Ludmila Ulitskaya

Moderated by Julia Dobrovolskaya, literary agent

7.30 – 9:00 pm, Waterstones Piccadilly

Literary Matrix: Young Writers on Writers

Moderated by Natasha Perova, publisher

7.30 – 9:00 pm, Pushkin House

16 April

Literary Matrix: Writers on Writers. Anna Starobinets on Edgar Allan Poe

Moderated by Ursula Woolley, Pushkin House director

1:00 - 2:00 pm, Pushkin House

In Conversation with Oleg Pavlov

Moderated Marcel Theroux, publicist

7.30 - 9:00 pm, Waterstones Piccadilly, Russian Bookshop

In Conversation with Ludmila Ulitskaya

Moderated by Arch Tait, translator

7:00 - 9:00 pm, Rossotrudnichestvo

17 April

Literary Matrix: Writers on Writers. Igor Sakhnovsky on Osip Mandelstam

Moderated by Ursula Woolley, Pushkin House director

1:00 - 2:00 pm, Pushkin House

In Conversation with Anna Starobinets

Moderated by Julia Goumen, literary agent

7.30 - 9:00 pm, Waterstones Piccadilly, Russian Bookshop

Rising Stars of Russian Writing: Alexander Snegirev, Irina Bogatyreva

Moderated by Natasha Perova, publisher, editor

7:00 - 9:00 pm, The European Bookshop

18 April

Fathers and Children: The Art of Biografiction, with Zinovy Zinik and Margarita Gluzberg

6.30 - 8:00 pm, Waterstones Piccadilly

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