6th SLOVO Russian Literature Festival
11 – 19 April 2015, London
Watersones Piccadilly
SLOVO is the only festival of Russian literature held outside Russia
The festival is organised by Academia Rossica jointly with Waterstones Piccadilly, and is supported by Alexander Mamut. This year SLOVO opens during Russian Easter; it also coincides with the international London Book Fair and London Book Week. On the Opening night, 11 April, we will be joined in Waterstones Piccadilly by Russian and international authors, publishers, translators and special guests.
Words in action!
Words in action! – This has been SLOVO’s motto since its inception. We believe that words have the power to change the world. As in previous years, the SLOVO festival will see leading Russian and British authors to take a stand against violence and in support of culture and humanity. Britain and Russia both have profound and far-reaching literary traditions, and literature and culture are the best ambassadors between them, forming the foundation for free dialogue and mutual exchange.
This year, the SLOVO Festival has a very special mission. We have joined forces with 3 charitable organisations working to save children’s lives in Russia: Chance for Life, Life Line, and Rusfond. We will be fundraising for these charities throughout the festival, and there will be 3 special events dedicated to each of the charities. Their work is extremely vital in Russia. It is a great privilege and a great responsibility to work with these organisations, and we are proud to support them. Come and join us in this campaign!
All events are in Russian with English translation, unless otherwise stated.
Tickets to all events can be bookes here >>
PROGRAMME
Saturday 11 April, 7 pm, 4th floor
SLOVO OPENING NIGHT: BORIS AKUNIN: THE POWER OF WORDS
Boris Akunin will open SLOVO with a short speech about the importance of literature and culture. A multi-award winning author, he is one of the most Russia's most widely read and internationally acclaimed contemporary novelists; he has sold more than 18 million copies in Russia alone and his works have been translated into more than 50 languages.
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Monday 13 April, 6 pm, 4th floor
THE LIVING WORD OF ANTHONY OF SUROZH
Professor Mikhail will talk about Avril Pyman’s forthcoming book which examines the enduring spiritual and cultural influence of Metropolitan Anthony of Surozh, head of the Russian Orthodox Cathedral in London from 1953 to 2003.
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Tuesday 14 April, 6 pm, 4th floor
OLEG RADZINSKY: THE WRITER AND TIME
The son of a popular Soviet author, Oleg was arrested in 1982 when studying Russian Literature at Moscow University and sentenced to 6 years for Anti-Soviet propaganda. He later emigrated to America, became a successful banker and returned to Russia as Chairman of Rambler Media Group. Five years later he left Rambler to become a professional writer. It’s no surprise that his novels read like roller-coaster! Oleg will talk on the power of words and on what it means to be a Russian writer living outside Russia.
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Tuesday 14 April, 8 pm, 4th floor
SERGEI PARKHOMENKO: URBAN MEMORY
Sergei Parkhomenko is a famous Russian journalist and publisher, and an influential and vocal advocate of civic rights and duties. He will talk about the importance of collective memory in society and how we read and live our history through literature and our urban environment.
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Wednesday 15 April, 6 pm, 4th floor
IN CONVERSATION WITH BORIS AKUNIN
Charity event in aid of RUSFOND UK
Boris Akunin is the pen name of Grigory Chkhartishvili. With over 60 million copies of his works produced, he is indisputably one of Russia’s best-selling authors. Best known as a writer of detective and historical fiction, he has been compared in turn to Tolstoy, Dostoevsky and Conan-Doyle. Also well-respected as an essayist and a civil activist. Akunin is currently working on a monumental multi-volume history of Russia and a series of novels. Read more about Boris Akunin: Lunch with the FT: Boris Akunin
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Wednesday 15 April, 8 pm, 4th floor
BORIS GREBENSHCHIKOV: WORDS & MUSIC
A talk and performance by the legendary Russian rock star whose poetry and songs stand at the heart of contemporary Russian culture. Boris Grebenshchikov is one of the most prominent figures in a generation of musicians considered the "founding fathers" of Russian rock. His personal contribution as well as the undisputed and lasting successes of his primary project, the band Aquarium (1972-present), have cemented his status as a household name in Russia, where he is colloquially known as BG (Russian: БГ).
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Thursday 16 April, 6 pm, 4th floor
VLADIMIR SOROKIN: THE OPRICHNIK BOOK
Charity event in aid of LIFE LINE (Moscow)
Considered a living classic, Vladimir Sorokin is a celebrated post-modern Russian storyteller and dramatist. Though his early works were banned during the Soviet period, Sorokin went on to win the 2001 Russian Booker Prize and was nominated for the 2013 International Man Booker Prize. Translated into more than 20 languages, his most well-known book in English is Days of the Oprichnik. Set in Moscow in 2028, the city has been sealed off from Europe by a Great Wall and is ruled by a latter-day Ivan the Terrible, protected by “oprichniki”, the black-clad secret police whose purpose is to eliminate Ivan’s enemies. A workaday tale of rape, arson and murder, it was described by Stephen Kotkin in the New York Times Book Review as coming “across almost as extended performance art in its evocative rituals and bizarreness.”
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Friday 17 April, 6 pm, 4th floor
SASHA FILIPENKO: INTENTIONS | ЗАМЫСЛЫ
Born in Minsk, Belarus in 1984, the award-winning writer Sasha Filipenko completed his studies at the Smolny Institute of Liberal Arts and Sciences and went on to obtain a diploma from Bard College, New York. He rose to prominence as a popular TV presenter and scriptwriter for the Moscow-based television broadcaster DOZHD. He also writes a column for the Russian GQ magazine. The recipient of several prestigious awards, including the 2014 Russkaya Premia and the 2011 Pen Centre Belarus, Sasha presented his first novel at SLOVO 2014. We are delighted to invite him back this year to present his new novel which has already received critical acclaim in Moscow, Minsk and Paris.
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Friday 17 April, 8 pm, 4th floor
DMITRY GLUKHOVSKY: METRO 2035
Dmitry Glukhovsky is a bestselling Russian author and journalist known for Sci-Fi, Magic-Realism, and his exploration of social and political structures. He began writing his first novel, Metro 2033, at the age of 18, and then published it on his website in 2002, available for all to read for free. The novel has become an interactive experiment, drawing in over 3 million readers worldwide. It was published in print form in 2005 in Russia, and 2010 in the U.S. and has since been made into a video game for the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC. Most recently, it was optioned by MGM Studios. In 2007, It's Getting Darker was published, followed by Metro 2034 in 2009, Russia’s best-seller that year. This was followed in 2010 by a series of satirical stories about Russia today – Stories about Motherland. As a journalist, Dmitry Glukhovsky has worked for EuroNews TV in France, Deutsche Welle and RT and writes columns for Harper’s Bazaar, l’Officiel and Playboy.
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Saturday 18 April, 12-1 pm, basement
SASHA FILIPENKO: MASTER-CLASS: THE ART OF THE INTERVIEW
Sasha Filipenko will conduct a master-class on the art of taking interview. IN RUSSIAN
Saturday 18 April, 2-3 pm, basement
SASHA FILIPENKO: MASTER-CLASS: WRITING A COLUMN
Sasha Filipenko will conduct a master-class on the art of creating a story. IN RUSSIAN
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Saturday 18 March, 4 pm, 4th floor
ELENA CHEKALOVA: FOOD FOR HAPPINESS
Elena Chekalova is a popular food and travel writer and TV presenter. She will talk about her own books on food and about the changing culture of consumption. IN RUSSIAN
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Saturday 18 March, 7 pm, 4th floor
LEONID PARFENOV: THE OTHER DAY – 1946-2010
Leonid Parfenov is one of the most renowned and respected journalists in modern Russia. Not just a presenter, but the author of a range of projects that have defined an era in Russian TV, Parfenov pioneered a unique form of historical documentary in his long-running series The Other Day: Our Times 1946-2010, an unprecedented project which chronicled the changing Zeitgeist through a subtle analysis of historical facts and popular opinion, and was later captured in a series of lavishly illustrated books. Parfenov consistently raises the bar for contemporary journalism in whichever capacity — news, light entertainment, talk-shows, and now non-fiction publishing. His acceptance speech for the 2010 Vladislav Listyev Prize, where Parfenov launched a bold and impassioned defence of journalistic freedom, became one of the stories of the year in Russia.
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Sunday 19 March, 4 pm, 4th floor
RUSSIAN UK WRITERS: CARINA COCKRELL, EVA LANSKA, JUJA D., ALLA BASHENKO
Four Russian authors living in London present their books and talk about the cross influence of Russian and British literature.
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Sunday 19 March, 7 pm, Bag O'Nails Private Members Club
SLOVO Closing Party
ALLA BASHENKO: ATLANTIDA-ATLANTIS
Charity event in aid of Gift of Life
Alla Bashenko's new poetry book launch is a mix of art forms, a unique display of music and poetry presented by the author and a team of talented actors, musicians, composers, including Dina Korzun, Vlada Sadovskaya, Louis Franck and Alexia Mankovskaya
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SLOVO Festival Organisers
Academia Rossica is an independent arts organisation set up in 2000 to promote cultural and intellectual ties between Russia and Britain. We have pioneered many important intercultural projects, bringing the best of contemporary Russian culture to the UK. Academia Rossica runs the annual London Russian Film Festival, the SLOVO Russian literature festival and two prestigious literary translation awards – the Rossica Prize and the Rossica Young Translators Award. We represent Russian artists, filmmakers, writers and publishers.
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Contact for press
press@academia-rossica.org
