29 March - 23 April, Finborough Theatre
Based on the 1927 black and white Russian film by Abram Room, Bed and Sofa is a musical written by Polly Pen and Laurence Klavan.

The author of widely acclaimed novels, Shishkin is admired as a refined stylist whose fiction engages Russian and European literary traditions and forges an equally expansive vision for the future of literature. Born January 18, 1961 in Moscow, Shishkin worked as a school teacher and journalist. His writing debut in 1993, the short story Calligraphy Lesson, was named Best Debut of the Year by the literary journal Znamya.

Sergei Lukyanenko is one of the foremost Russian writers and one of the few to be acclaimed outside of Russia. After originally studying as a psychiatrist, Lukyanenko chose instead to become a prolific science-fiction writer. He is best known, particularly abroad, for his incredibly popular series of Watches, starting with Night Watch (1998) and ending with Final Watch (2006). The series chronicles the supernatural conflict between two organisations, the Night Watch and Day Watch, who strive to uphold the truce between good and evil.

Slavnikova began publishing fiction in the late 1980s (her first novel appeared in 1988), during which time she was also fiction editor, then managing editor, of the important literary magazine ‘Urals'. She has lived and worked in Moscow since 2001.

21 - 29 January
The Moscow-based Sovremennik Theatre is bringing three of their acclaimed productions to London for the first time. Into the Whirlwind, Three Sisters and The Cherry Orchard, directed by Galina Volchek, will be performed in Russian with English surtitles.

20 - 30 January
Andrei Konchalovsky introduces a series of selected screenings of his work, including Gloss, House of Fools, First Teacher and Uncle Vanya.

12-14 November 2010, St Petersburg
The festival aims to celebrate Russia's artistic contributions to the world and forge cultural relations between Russia and the West. St PetersBall with Corinthia will feature eminent cultural personalities and acclaimed artistic minds from the UK, Russia and other nations including Man Booker prize winning writer DBC Pierre, film director Mike Figgis, fashion designer Roksanda Ilincic, fashion designer Ozwald Boateng, taxidermy artist Polly Morgan, Turner prize winning Marc Quinn, film director John Hillcoat, designer Jasper Conran, Mat Collishaw - to name a few.

20 November - 4 December
Based on Mikhail Bulgakov's once-banned satire on the New Soviet Man, composer Alexander Raskatov's new work tells of the stray mongrel who becomes human after an experimental organ transplant. The director Simon McBurney makes his English National Opera debut in this major new collaboration with acclaimed UK theatre company Complicite.

5 –23 October
Celebrating Anton Chekhov's 150th Birthday, Caroline Blakiston performs her play at the Jermyn Street Theatre. Black Bread and Cucumber is Caroline Blakiston's acclaimed one-woman show about how she made history as the first British actress to play Chekhov in Russia, in Russian! Black Bread and Cucumber was written during 1992-3, following Caroline Blakiston’s unique experience playing Charlotta in The Cherry Orchard in Russia. She was the first English actress to play Chekhov in Russia in Russian.

4th Russian Film Festival, 29 October – 7 November Dear Friends! The Russian Film Festival is getting ready to present London with this year's best premieres in Russian cinema. The Main Programme As always, the main festival programme showcases the best Russian films, award-winners at major international and Russian film festivals. These films include, 'Silent Souls' (Ovsyanki), directed by Alexei Fedorchenko and winner of three prizes at the Venice Film Festival, 'How I Ended This Summer' by Alexei Popogrebsky, awarded prizes for best actor and best cinematography at the Berlinale, 'One War' by Vera Glagoleva, Grand Prix winner at Sofia International Film Festival and Russia's nomination for the Oscars and Svetlana Proscurina's latest film 'The Truce', winner of the main prize at Kinotavr. As in previous years, guests include directors, producers and actors who come to London specially to present their films at the festival. Documentaries – 'Noughties Art' This year's documentary programme sums up the last decade with screenings of the ten best Russian documentary films, one for each year. The programme is presented by the great director and documentary maker, Vitaly Mansky, president of the ArtDocFest. Animation Alongside the main programme and documentaries, we have also put together a comprehensive and diverse programme of animation. As part of our festival 'Astral dogs Belka and Strelka' take a trip to outer space captained by director Inna Evlannikova, while Irina Evteeva, famous for her graceful and original style, brings 'Little Tragedies' to the screen. These films will capture the hearts of adults and childen alike. As well as an extensive programme of full length animation, we will be screening a special programme for our young audiences, presenting the best of award-winning Russian animated films of recent years Special Screenings This year's film festival also includes a retrospective of the great actor and director Sergei Bondarchuk's films and the works of Leo Tolstoy on film, as well as a retrospective of masters of Soviet and Russian animation. Venue For the fourth year in a row the Russian Film Festival will take place at the Apollo Piccadilly, one of London's best cinemas.

Saturday 19 June, 7.30pm & 10.30pm, PizzaExpress Jazz Club
A long established leading figure in Russian jazz and an internationally acclaimed pianist, Daniel Kramer will visit London to perform two live concerts exclusively for the audience of the PizzaExpress Jazz Club. The innovator of Russia's jazz scene and artistic director of no less than four jazz festivals, he lectures at Moscow State Conservatory and Central Music School while also being the Chairman of the Jazz

Sunday 30 May, 5pm, Apollo Cinema
Immerse yourself in the world of surrealist Russian animation! On this very special Sunday evening we will be holding a one off screening of spectacular new Russian award-winning animations, presented by the famous Russian writer, Dmitry Bykov. The animations are based on stories by some of Russia’s wittiest writers, such as Chekhov, Krzhizhanovsky, Mayakovsky and Kharms, and include the Nika prize

Come to hear Vladimir Tolstoy, great great grandson of Leo Tolstoy, in conversation with acclaimed writer James Meek.
Monday 19 April, 6.30pm at Waterstones Piccadilly

Olga Slavnikova was born to a family of aerospace engineers near Sverdlosk in the Urals, modern day Ekaterinburg. After finishing school she studied journalism and graduated from Ekaterinburg State University. Slavnikova began publishing fiction in the late 1980s (her first novel appeared in 1988), during which time she was also fiction editor, then managing editor, of the important literary magazine ‘Urals'. She has lived and worked in Moscow since 2001.

Slavnikova began publishing fiction in the late 1980s (her first novel appeared in 1988), during which time she was also fiction editor, then managing editor, of the important literary magazine ‘Urals'. She has lived and worked in Moscow since 2001.

16 – 20 June
Sadler's Wells
Highlights of the season include quintessential Ballets Russes ballets Les Sylphides, Le Spectre de la Rose, Schéhérazade and The Dying Swan. The performances also showcase Kenneth MacMillan’s magnificent reworking of the visceral The Rite of Spring, which provoked riots at its first performances by the Ballets Russes; and the World Premiere of Faun(e), a re-imagining of Nijinsky’s L’après-midi d’un Faune by acclaimed choreographer David Dawson. On Thursday 18 June at 2pm we will present a special performance for schools looking at the rehearsal process which goes into staging a performance like Ballets Russes.

Mario has published numerous poetry books and pamphlets, including: Shrapnel and Sheets, Bosco, Heavy Water, Half Life, Fearnought (poems for Southwell Workhouse), along with translations of Catullus, Sappho and Montale. Lepidoptera is a hybrid book of long poetry and short prose, while his illustrated collection The Stamina of Sheep (the unique result of an innovative public and educational arts project for Havering, the Thames and Essex) captured the Essex Book Award for Best Fiction Publication (2000-2002). Flowers of Sulphur was published in 2007. Mario is currently working on two further collections, Monte Cassino and i tulips.

By Dan Carrier
Russian films do not get much in the way of publicity, and even arthouse cinemas tend not to run regular features, so it’s a pleasure to find the festival offering 10 UK premieres of Russian films that have been acclaimed on the European festival circuit.

Olga Slavnikova was born to a family of aerospace engineers near Sverdlosk in the Urals, modern day Ekaterinburg. After finishing school she studied journalism and graduated from Ekaterinburg State University. Slavnikova began publishing fiction in the late 1980s (her first novel appeared in 1988), during which time she was also fiction editor, then managing editor, of the important literary magazine ‘Urals'. She has lived and worked in Moscow since 2001.

Born in 1975 under his real name of Yevgeniy Nikolayevich Lavlinsky, Zakhar Prilepin grew up in a small village, Ilinka Skaponskovo, in Ryazan Province, not too distant from Nizhni Novgorod. He comes from a family of teachers and nurses. After finishing at the Philology Department of Nizhni Novgorod State University he worked as a security guard and a journalist before joining the Russia’s ‘Special Purpose Police Squad’ (the OMON) and, as a captain, serving on military deployments in Chechnya during 1996 and 1999.

by Daniil Kharms
Translated by Matvei Yankelevich
Overlook Press, 2007, pp. 266
Daniil Kharms has long been heralded as one of the most iconoclastic writers of the Soviet era, but the full breadth of his achievement is only in recent years, following the opening of Kharms' archives, being recognized internationally.

Professor Tony Briggs, Senior Research Fellow at Bristol University, has written, translated or edited more than twenty books on Russian and English literature. After gaining a reputation as a leading authority on Alexander Pushkin, he has turned to Tolstoy in recent years, writing for Penguin Books.

By Dan Carrier
Russian films do not get much in the way of publicity, and even arthouse cinemas tend not to run regular features, so it’s a pleasure to find the festival offering 10 UK premieres of Russian films that have been acclaimed on the European festival circuit.

By Dan Carrier
Russian films do not get much in the way of publicity, and even arthouse cinemas tend not to run regular features, so it’s a pleasure to find the festival offering 10 UK premieres of Russian films that have been acclaimed on the European festival circuit.

Director, 'Terra Nova'
In 2004 he created a new production company under the same name. Andreevski Flag produced Maria Saakyan's critically acclaimed debut film ‘The Lighthouse', and Sergei Bodrov's box-office hit ‘Mongol'.

Actor, Live to Remember, Nirvana
Born in 1974, Mikhail made his debut in 2004 in the widely acclaimed film ‘Ours'. Since then Evlanov has appeared in eight feature films, including ‘Simple Things', ‘Nirvana', and a mega successful Russian blockbuster ‘9th Company'.

Dir. Best of Times
One of the most complex and mysterious Russian filmmakers working today. Svetlana's unique cinematic style and aesthetics have been highly acclaimed at various international film festivals - Lokarno, Montreal, Rotterdam, Venice, Cannes.

Award-winning novelist, short story writer and journalist James Meek was born in London in 1962 and grew up in Dundee. We Are Now Beginning Our Descent is his fourth novel. His previous book, The People's Act of Love (2005), won the Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize, the SAC Book of the Year Award, was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize and has been translated into more than twenty languages.

The winner of Russian Booker Prize 2006. Director of “Debut” Prize. Grew up in Yekaterinburg in the Urals where she majored in journalism. A literary editor and critic, Slavnikova is the author of three widely acclaimed novels: A Dragon-fly the Size of a Dog, short-listed for the Russian Booker Prize (1997); Alone in the Mirror, short-listed for the Anti-Booker and winner of the Pavel Bazhov Prize; and Immortal, awarded the Critics' Academy Apollon Grigoriev Prize and short-listed for both the Belkin Prize and the National Bestseller Prize.