Having once escaped from the Earth’s gravitational pull, on his return Gagarin naturally found himself back in its power and he felt it just like everyone else. But the unique status that in reality was his for only one and a half hours was miraculously prolonged: in the eyes of virtually the entire population of the planet he remained a body free of the influence of earthly gravity.

Russia is to be the Guest of Honour at BookExpo America’s Global Market Forum in 2012 in New York. Sponsored by the country’s Federal Agency for Press and Mass Communications, and supported by Academia Rossica and Intelligent Television, a particularly broad set of events for both publishing professionals as well as a general cultural audience is currently being planned. The primary goals are to shed light on Russian publishing and contemporary literature in one of the world’s most diverse, yet least known book landscapes. “We are particularly enthusiastic to roll out the carpet for Russia with its long and prestigious literary tradition as well as help the match making between Russian and American book professionals”, says BEA’s event director Steven Rosato.

Massive literary and professional programme, with 50 Russian writers and as many editors in preparation…

A New Chapter. Part 1
Russian Writing from the 21st Century
The first of a special double issue of ROSSICA published to mark the occasion of Russia’s Guest of Honour status at the London Book Fair, an unprecedented event which brought 50 leading Russian writers to Britain. These two Rossicas set out to capture the range and depth of the literary scene in Russia, with Part 1 featuring well-established authors such as Vladimir Makanin and Olga Slavnikova alongside promising newcomers such as Zakhar Prilepin.

by Claire Armistead and Tim Maby
Claire Armitstead finds Yuri Gagarin still inspiring writers in Russia, guest of honour at next week's London Book Fair, while James Hopkin goes to Krakow in search of Poland's literary soul.
In the final week of the Guardian's tour of Europe we send novelist James Hopkin to Poland in pursuit of its literary soul. He meets publishers and bookshop entrepreneurs in Krakow, who are taking a great literary tradition into the 21st century.

by Catherine Neilan

The London Book Fair has selected Russia as the market focus and guest of honour for 2011's event, in conjunction with the Russian Federal Agency for Press and Mass Communication.

The BOOKS FROM RUSSIA stand was held at the London Book Fair for the third time by the Russian Federal Agency for Press and Mass Communication in collaboration with Academia Rossica. Building on the success of last year, publishers were offered even greater opportunities for creating and expanding business links with the fast growing Russian book market. This was of particular important this year as part of the lead up to the 2011 London Book Fair, where Russia will be the Guest of Honour. Despite being affected by the unexpected volcanic activity, as was the entire London Book Fair, we were very pleased to see that the BOOKS FROM RUSSIA stand was one of the liveliest at the fair.

On 19 – 25 April ACADEMIA ROSSICA will bring you SLOVO, the Russian Literature Festival that knows no boundaries. Packed with a kaleidoscope of genre-defying events, SLOVO will offer a unique insight into Russian literary culture, presenting not only the foremost contemporary Russian writers and highly opinionated public figures, such as Dmitry Bykov, Sergei Lukyanenko, Olga Slavnikova, Maria Galina and Vladimir Sharov, but also cutting edge young writers and poets from right across Russia’s eleven time zones. This year’s festival sees a particular focus on fantasy and magical realism. Lukyanenko’s 'Night Watch' series clearly comes under this genre, but ‘Living Souls’ by Dmitry Bykov,‘2017’ by Olga Slavnikova and ‘Iramifications’ by Maria Galina, all newly published in English, have also been influenced by this notable undercurrent of Russian writing. Our authors will present their new books in light of this genre, which has its roots in the 19th and 20th century literary greats, Gogol, Bulgakov, Zamyatin and Platonov, while Lev Danilkin, literary critic and ‘Afisha’ columnist will explore why Russian literature has a tendency to look at reality through a prism of the unreal. In addition to events with established authors, SLOVO will introduce Russia’s newest literary voices. Olga Slavnikova, herself an award-winning writer, is the coordinator of Russia’s prestigious Debut prize for young writers and will present six Debut prize winners at this year’s festival, including three of Russian literature’s rising stars, Polina Klyukina from Perm, Alisa Ganieva from Dagestan and Alexander Gritsenko from Astrakhan. Key to this festival is the belief that literature can act as an instrument of social and political change and can help to bring two cultures together. For this reason SLOVO will coincide with the London Book Fair, where ties between the Russian and British publishing industry have already been strengthened by naming Russia Guest of Honour and Market Focus of the London Book Fair 2011. SLOVO will continue in this spirit with unique collaborative events between Russian and British poets, as well as providing numerous opportunities for cross-cultural discussions. Indeed, as the slogan ‘WORDS IN ACTION’ may suggest, SLOVO is not just about the written word. Film also plays an important part in this year’s festival. SLOVO will hold the first ever screening of Russian underground video poetry in the UK and the London premiere of Aliona Van der Horst’s hauntingly beautiful film on poet Boris Ryzhy. SLOVO’s broad spectrum of events will be held across several venues, Waterstones Piccadilly, Waterstones Hampstead, The Calvert 22 Gallery and the Apollo cinema. Come and join us for this un-missable chance to witness literature in transition!

In September 2009 Russia was announced the Market Focus and Guest of Honour of The London Book Fair 2011. This decision has been taken in recognition of Russia’s rapid growth in the publishing field in the past two decades, and following the success of the Russian Pavilion and Russian Literature Week, held in conjunction with The London Book Fair 2009 and in the presence of Minister Mikhail V. Seslavinsky and His Excellency Ambassador Yury V. Fedotov.

In order to prepare Russia’s participation as Market Focus Country two steering committees have been set up - in London and in Moscow. The first London steering committee was held at the Russian Embassy in London on 9 November 2009. It was chaired by Mr Alistair Burtenshaw, Director of The London Book Fair.