It’s time to launch the third week of our competition! Same rules, just update your favorite Russian novel for the 21st Century in 25 words or less.

The first Russian stand at BookExpo America New York, 25 - 27 May 2010 This year the BOOKS FROM RUSSIA stand took part in BookExpo America, the main fair in the American book industry. The stand was organised by the Russian Federal agency for Press and Mass Communications and represented a range of Russian publishers. BookExpo America is currently undergoing major changes, transforming itself from a fair which focused primarily on the domestic market into an international book forum.

Find out the winning answers to our first New Russian Classics competition and see everyone's favourite Russian novels in 25 word, 21st Century versions!

Video poetry is a new phenomena in the contemporary Russian arts scene. In today’s world, media has no limits - information is mixed together with a myriad of fast, dynamic images, and punchy sounds. Video poetry has incorporated these elements that are all around us and used them to create a new art form which has become extremely popular in Russia during the last couple of years. Leading experimental poets and film directors, including Kirill Serebrennikov and Valeria Gai Germanika, amongst others, have come together to create films based on poems read by the poets themselves. The performances are also strongly influenced by European artists of the 70s and 80s, such as Gianni Toti, Richard Kostelanetz, Arnaldo Antunes and Caterina Davinio, whose experimental work was considered arthouse and cutting edge thirty years ago, but seems to strike a chord with the world we live in today. In our culture of multi-media, the merging of poetry, music and film feels only natural. ACADEMIA ROSSICA will be premiering three programmes of video poetry at SLOVO literature festival. The three programmes will offer a unique opportunity to see the works of fifteen of the most important names in Russian video poetry, including Andrei Rodionov, Inna Kabysh and Alina Butokhnovskaya. Programme 1 & 3 will be screened at the Apollo Cinema, Piccadilly at 18.30 on 20 & 22 April. To book tickets, call 0871 220 6000 or go to www.apollocinemas.com Programme 2 includes readings from cutting edge contemporary Russian and British poets and takes place at Calvert 22 art gallery at 18.30. Attendance is by invitation only. These events are part of the SLOVO festival and organised in collaboration with Tom Chivers and Penned in the Margins. These programmes are curated by Andrei Rodionov, one of the leading contemporary Russian poets and Ekaterina Troepolskaya, who also curates the Piataya Noga video poetry festival.

To celebrate the new classics of Russian literature, Academia Rossica is running a series of competitions, giving you the chance to win copies of 10 great new books published in English translation. For our first competition, we want you to update your favorite Russian novel for the 21st Century and rewrite it in 25 words or less.

An Awkward Age Anna Starobinets. Hesperus Press Ltd This book combines a format and genre that remain largely unknown in Russia – the short story and horror. Eight terrifying yarns about an ant colony living inside a teenager; a description of Moscow destroyed after a war between humans and androids; a southbound train chugging into an unknown dimension. The effect produced is that of sheer fear, largely due to the simplistic register and the realistic reportage-style descriptions. An Akward Age is the debut work of this young Moscow journalist (born 1978). It was followed by her equally chilling but less successful novel Asylum 3/9, and a critically acclaimed novel based on the feature-length animation film First Squad.

I am a Chechen! German Sadulaev. Harvill Secker A collection of novellas about what it is like to be a Chechen. German Sadulaev (born 1973) was born in the town of Shali to a Chechen father and a Russian mother and now lives in St Petersburg. There are two distinct directions in his work that could be figuratively termed as the “mountain theme” and the “city theme”. The first is far more interesting, in particular, his books I am a Chechen and The Raid on Shali. Sadulaev is second to none on this topic; there are very few who would dare to write about the Chechens on behalf of the Chechens themselves.

16 April – 7 May 2011
The RSC announces Rona Munro's "Little Eagles" at Hampstead Theatre.
A story about the battle for military supremacy during the Cold War, coinciding with the 50th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s first orbit around the earth.

Andrey Usachev was born in 1958 in Moscow. He attended the Moscow Institute of Electronics but left to study humanities at Tver State University. His first published work appeared in 1985, and from 1988 he has been a full-time author, mainly of work for children. Usachev has been extremely prolific, having had 150 books published in Russia.

German Sadulaev was born in 1973, in the town of Shali, in the Chechen-Ingush ASSR, to a Chechen father and Terek Cossack mother. In 1989, aged sixteen, he left Chechnya to study law at Leningrad State University. Today he lives and works as a lawyer in St Petersburg. German Sadulaev’s first book, Radio FUCK, told the urban tales of thirty-somethings in St Petersburg. It made no mention of Chechnya.

Dina Rubina is one of the most widely-read Russian authors alive today. She was born in 1953, in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, where she later studied music at the Tashkent Conservatory. At sixteen her first short story appeared in the journal Iunost’, which continued to publish her work until the end of the Soviet Union. Life in the colourful environment of Tashkent was not always easy: Rubina had to turn to writing for stage and screen and finally moved to Moscow in the mid-1980s.

Andrey Rodionov is one of the most remarkable figures in contemporary Russian poetry, art, music and theatre. His career began in 2000 in Moscow as a performer on poetry slams, and in 2002 he was awarded the Russian Slam prize. He continues to be a leading figure in the development of the Russian slam poetry movement: in December 2010, as a curator of the SlovoNova poetry festival, he organised the first national Russian slam final in Perm.

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.

Dmitry Bykov was born in Moscow in 1967. He studied at Moscow State University's Faculty of Journalism, and journalism is something he remains engaged with: he regularly produces articles, essays and reviews for the leading Russian newspapers and magazines. He has senior editorial positions in various publications, hosts a weekly radio show and appears regularly on Russian TV.

Sergei Lukyanenko, born in Kazakhstan, is one of the foremost Russian science-fiction writers and has received tremendously high acclaim abroad. Originally studying as a psychiatrist, Lukyanenko turned to science-fiction writing with the monthly publication of Where the Mean Enemy Lurks in 1988. However, the works that shot him to the dizzying heights that he now occupies were Knights of the Forty Islands

21 January - 21 March
Over two hundred previously unseen photographs by Alexander Rodchenko will feature alongside the work of his contemporaries in this exhibition at the Art Sensus gallery. Curated by John Milner.

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.

28 November, 4pm
Another chance to catch Pavel Bardin's 'mockumentary', documenting the rise of xenophobia and nationalism in Russia. Followed by a Q&A with the director.

6pm, Sunday, 7 November, Apollo, Piccadilly
Rocket into space with Belka and Strelka on the last day of the film festival. Jam-packed with intrigue, wit, action and comedy, see the animated adventures of the famous soviet space dogs in Russian with English subtitles, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the first successful space flight made by the real Belka and Strelka on 19 August 1960. Tickets for this closing night film include a complimentary drink!

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.

We are excited to tell you that Maria Galina's book ‘On Two Feet’ made top ten poetical collections in 2009 according to Moskovski Schyot (The Moscow Tally) literary prize. The overall winner of the prize will be named tomorrow on Friday at the 5th Moscow International Book Festival, one hour before Maria will appear at Apollo cinema in London to read her poetry at the event organised by Academia Rossica. We congratulate Maria with this huge achievement and keep our fingers crossed that she takes the first prize.

The first Russian stand at BookExpo America New York, 23 - 26 May 2011 This year the BOOKS FROM RUSSIA stand took part in BookExpo America, the main fair in the American book industry. The stand was organised by the Russian Federal agency for Press and Mass Communications and represented a range of Russian publishers. BookExpo America is currently undergoing major changes, transforming itself from a fair which focused primarily on the domestic market into an international book forum.

AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN RUSSIAN TO ENGLISH LITERARY TRANSLATION We are delighted to announce that entries for the Rossica Translation Prize 2011 are now open. The Rossica Prize is the only prize awarded for the best new translation of a high-quality Russian literary work into English. Literary work must be written in Russian by any author, present or past, and published in English in 2009 and 2010. The prize is open to works published in any country. The value of the prize is £5,000 divided between the winning translator and the publisher.

We are as disappointed as you are that the ash cloud stopped our Russian authors from making it to the UK for our SLOVO festival. However, the festival has not been cancelled, merely postponed. We are working hard to bring the events to London at a later date, so keep a close eye on our website! In the meantime, Academia Rossica is delighted to support The East End Film Festival (22 April – Friday 30) in their focus on new Russian cinema.