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.

Rossica Young Translators Award was established in 2009 to support young people who are passionate about the world of translation and to encourage literary translation amongst those who study and speak Russian. With the help of this award we would like to nurture a new generation of Russian to English translators, as well as encourage cultural dialogue. What is more, this award casts a spotlight on the newest developments in Russian literature by selecting extracts for translation from the latest releases by acclaimed contemporary authors.

Pelevin’s Helmet of Horror updates the story of Theseus and the Minotaur to the world of Internet chatrooms. You can win a copy of Pelevin’s amazing modern myth by updating your own legend or fairy tale.

Interview with German Sadulaev 25.01.2011

Daniel Stein, Interpreter Ludmila Ulitskaya. Overlook Press (currently being printed) Ludmila Ulitskaya (born 1943) works in an area that could be defined as intellectual female prose. Ulitskaya has received an impressive array of various awards, the most recent of which is the French Simone de Beauvoir Prize (2011). A true story, it follows the escapades of a Polish Jew, who by a sheer miracle managed to not only survive the Second World War but also to save hundreds of people from Nazi concentration camps. Based on the life of translator, hero, monk and ecumenist Oswald Rufeisen (1922–1998), the novel was both praised and disparaged in Russia, yet won Ulitskaya the Big Book award.

It's 2033; 20 years have passed since nuclear war destroyed the world and the pitiful remnants of Moscow's population is struggling to survive in Metro stations and tunnels where they have established a primitive economy, raising pigs and growing tea. Meanwhile, they have also created over a dozen mini-states, some on the outskirts that suffer from mutant invasions, and from where one inhabitant goes on a journey in search of help. Dmitry Glukhovsky was born in Moscow in 1979 and has lived in Israel, Germany and France. It took him eight years to write Metro 2033, which may partly explain his book’s popularity: it is not merely postapocalyptic science fiction, but a true coming-of-age novel.

Born in 1947 in Moscow, Lev Rubinstein worked as a librarian while he took part in the Russian literary underground, a job that at least partly inspired his use of the index card as poetic medium. Rubinstein's central importance to the Russian avant-garde, and his artistic affinities with international experimental poetry, make him an essential figure in both Russian and world poetry; that he has been translated into German, French, Swedish, Polish, and English indicates the already-existing regard for his achievements.

ACADEMIA ROSSICA's aim is to bring writers, publishers and translators together and to help create structures to support the publication and distribution of Russian literature in the English speaking world. The Translators Day will be a key element of this project, which will set the ground for a stronger recognition and promotion of literary translation from Russian into English. 10.30 – 11.30 PEN Café, EC2 Rossica Translation Prize, Young Translators Prize award. A special Rossica Translation award to Stanley Mitchell 11.30 –12.00 BFR, Y455 Russkiy Mir Translation Grants Presentation 12.00 – 13.00 BFR, Y455 Roundtable: Translating Russia 13.30 –14.30 BFR, Y455 Presentation: Famous Englishmen, Known Only in Russia Presentation: Misreading English Literature – A few true stories from Soviet translations 15.00 – 15.30 BFR, Y455 New Millennium Prize Award. Winner - Mary Hobson, poet and translator. 16.00 – 16.30 PEN Café, EC2 Market Focus Handover Ceremony, Champagne Reception Interpreting for the Russian guests at the LBF and SLOVO festival For those interested in offering their professional translation skills during the London Book Fair, ACADEMIA ROSSICA will have a series of events and seminars where interpreters will be needed in order for Russian and UK guests to communicate with each other. This an excellent opportunity for professional translators to play an involved and encouraging role in the development of future publishing projects that will lead to the further promotion and distribution of Russian literature in the English speaking world. To register as an interpreter, please contact Rodrigo@academia-rossica.org by 15th April.

Vladimir Grigoriev is Deputy Head of the Russian Federal Agency for the Press and Mass Communications and he is a tireless campaigner and champion of Russian literature and culture at all the world's major book fairs: he has famously said, ‘Russian literature should know no boundaries.'

Friday 17 December, 7pm
Stravinsky Dumbarton Oaks, Marc-André Dalbavie Oboe Concerto, performed by Sergei Orgrintchouk and Prokofiev Symphony No. 6 in E flat minor at the Barbican.

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.

29 October - 7 November, Apollo Piccadilly
The 4th Russian Film starts this Friday, 29 October, featuring the best in new Russian film, documentaries and animation and opens with The Ugly Duckling, master animator Garry Bardin's sparky and affecting stop-motion animation with Orwellian overtones. All films are shown in Russian with English subtitles.

30 September – 25 October
The Royal Ballet perform John Cranko's Onegin at the Royal Opera House. Stage designs and music taken from Tchaikovsky in a specially created score bring the world of imperial Russia vividly alive to complete a ballet of colour, drama, beauty and passion.

The International Lounge at the Moscow International Book Fair is a space where the Russian publishing world can form links with the international book industry. Alongside the extensive programme of seminars and roundtables, it is a place for networking and deals, as well as being an information centre on international collaboration. The International Lounge is organised by Academia Rossica with the support from the Federal Agency for Press and Mass Communication and the Moscow International Book Fair. The programme of seminars and presentations is focused on the preparation for Russia Market Focus at the London Book Fair 2011.

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.

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.

Friday 11 June, 7pm, Apollo Cinema
Maria Galina and Arkady Shtipel, two distinguished contemporary Russian poets, will read their poetry (in Russian). Maria Galina is a poet and writer whose work is made up of a colourful mix of the ordinary and the extraordinary. Her avant-garde writing is juxtaposed with folkloric, otherworldly images which play within and alongside the everyday, making for a style which is completely her own.

27 мая, 19:00, Apollo Cinema
Приглашаем Вас на вечер с Дмитрием Быковым, одним из самых харизматичных и ярких представителей современной интеллектуальной России. Лауреат многих литературных премий, включая «Национальный бестселлер» и «Большая книга», острый публицист, блестящий рассказчик , теле- и радиоведущий, страстный киноман – Дмитрий Быков не нуждается в представлении.

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

Thursday 27 May, 7pm, Apollo Cinema
Dmitry Bykov is one of Russia most charismatic and controversial intellectual figures – an award winning writer, a phenomenal film buff and a successful tv and radio presenter. Dmitry will be interviewed by Alexander Kan from BBC World Service. They will be discussing today’s Russia, Bykov’s latest books, including Living Souls, which has recently been published in Britain, new Russian films and the crossover themes in Russian and and British culture (in Russian).

Academia Rossica celebrates the 65th anniversary of the Victory together with the whole world and with all Russia. We have decided to put together a few links that we think help us to remember the importance of this day for humanity.

9 May is a very special day – Victory Day. It is particularly special for Russia, since of all countries it paid the heaviest price for its own freedom and for the freedom of other countries from fascism. This is our common victory. It became possible only thanks to the joint efforts of all allies and the struggle of those who fought against fascism in their own countries. On this day we celebrate life and freedom and commemorate those who gave up their lives for us during the World War II.

Yume Pictures and Academia Rossica are delighted to invite you to a special screening of the film 'A Room and a Half' at 8pm on 10 May at Cine Lumière, South Kensington, London, SW7 2DT, followed by Q&A with director Andrey Khrzhanovsky and actress Alisa Freyndlikh. It is a beautifully mesmerising film based on the life of the Russian poet Joseph Brodsky.

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.

The Debut Prize was instituted in 2000 by State Duma Deputy Andrei Skoch, creator of the humanitarian foundation Pokolenie (Generation). Skoch originally conceived of Pokolenie as a medical charity to help provincial Russian clinics, sick children and pensioners. The Debut, Pokolenie’s only cultural project to date, has become a prize of national renown. The Debut has a strict age limit: entrants may not be over the age of 25. Members of the Russian literary establishment were skeptical at first. They doubted that writers so young would have something to say to readers. Young writers might try their hand at poetry, they argued, but they didn’t have enough life experience to write a story or a novel. However, the Debut has shown that a person’s life experience at any age is complete in and of itself. What a person knows about the world at 20 has been forgotten by the time he is 30. What he could have written at 20 he will no longer write at 30. He will write something else. Strangely enough, most writers live without their first book: it remains in their minds, in drafts. The Debut inspires young Russian writers to complete that first book. The Debut prompts them to commit to literature their unique experience, what might be described as the shock of their first encounter with grown-up life. Not just their new existential status, but daily events. Suddenly a person is faced with bank applications, having to pay rent and buy insurance; no one will fill out the forms for him, no one will answer for him. And he suddenly feels horribly alone in the world. This sort of loneliness, like any other, has a huge creative potential. The Debut brings in the first literary harvest of the writing generation — and it does so every year. 2010 marks the first year of Debut’s international program. Funded by Pokolenie, the program aims to present the works of Debut finalists and winners to the foreign reader. Collections of these works will be translated and their authors will be sent to international book fairs and festivals. This year’s collection appears in English and Chinese. Future collections will be brought out in French, German, Italian, Spanish, Japanese, and so on. Since the number of Debut finalists and winners is only increasing, as is their level and mastery, publication of their works in English will continue.

Vladimir Grigoriev is Deputy Head of the Russian Federal Agency for the Press and Mass Communications and he is a tireless campaigner and champion of Russian literature and culture at all the world's major book fairs: he has famously said, ‘Russian literature should know no boundaries.'

3rd RUSSIAN FILM FESTIVAL 30 October – 8 November 2009 Apollo Piccadilly, London T: 0871 220 6000 Academia Rossica is proud to present 10 UK premieres of award-winning Russian films produced in. All films with English subtitles. Programme director: Andrey Plakhov, President of FIPRESCI. The festival opens on 30 October with a new adaptation of Anna Karenina by one of Russia’s most defiant film directors, Sergei Soloviev. The film took 14 years to make and it is part of Soloviev’s trilogy ASSA (1987) – ASSA-2 (2009) – Anna Karenina (2009). Full programme of the Festival:

Now in its second year, the Rossica Young Translators Prize is hard on the heels of the success of the main Rossica Prize. Through this prize we would like to encourage young people under 25 who are passionate about Russia, literature and translation to enter into the world of professional literary translation. We hope that this award will help to nurture a new generation of Russian to English literary translators, as well as further cultural dialogue between Russia and the English-speaking world. The Winner will be announced on 21 April at the London Book Fair. The winning translator will receive £500 and the opportunity to travel to Moscow to take part in a Translators' Congress in September 2010. All shortlisted translators will be invited to a special programme of events at the London Book Fair and introduced to writers and publishers. If you would like to take part in this competition, please translate one of the three extracts in this brochure. They are taken from new novels written by Russia’s foremost contemporary novelists: Leonid Yuzefovich’s “Журавли и карлики”, Mikhail Shishkin’s “Письмовник”, and Viktor Pelevin's "t". The deadline for submission is 1 April. The translations will be judged by prominent translators and winners of the Rossica Prize – Robert Chandler, Amanda Love Darragh and Oliver Ready. It is an exciting opportunity for young translators to enter into the professional world of literary translation.

SLOVO Russian Literature Festival 19 - 25 April 2010 London and other UK cities Russian Literature Week is back for the third time, held in the same week as the London Book Fair. The aim is to highlight Russian writers and publishers, both in London and on an international scale. This year's SLOVO will also showcase the new generation of writers, exciting new poets and the fascinating culture scene of today's Russia.

NON/FICTION 11, Stand G-2 December, 2-7. Central House of Artists Dear friends and colleagues, Academia Rossica in partnership with The London Book Fair, Federal Agency for Press and Mass Communications and British Council invite you to Russia Market Focus 2011 Stand and would be very glad to see you at various events we are running during this fair.