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.

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

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.

Lev Danilkin, columnist for the Russian magazine, Afisha, is one of Russia most engaging literary critics and independent thinkers. Danilkin graduated from Moscow State University with a B.A. and PhD in philology. He is the former editor of Russian Playboy and is the author of several books, including ‘The Parthian Arrow’ (2006), ‘Circular journeys round the intestines of a beggar’ (2007) and a biography of the writer Alexander Prokhanov ‘The Egg Man. The Life and Opinions of Alexander Prokhanov’. Danilkin has also translated Julian Barnes’ series of essays, ‘Letters from London’.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Lev Danilkin, columnist for the Russian magazine, Afisha, is one of Russia most engaging literary critics and independent thinkers. Danilkin graduated from Moscow State University with a B.A. and PhD in philology. He is the former editor of Russian Playboy and is the author of several books, including ‘The Parthian Arrow’ (2006), ‘Circular journeys round the intestines of a beggar’ (2007)

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.'

26 May
Moscow
On the 26th of May, the names of the writers shortlisted for the 'Big Book' literary prize were announced. 13 authors have been shortlisted. Two of the shortlisted books were entered into the competition as manuscripts: Mariam Petrosyan's 'The House Where'and Andrei Baldin's 'The Extension of the Full Stop'.

Bykov's literary output is voluminous. He has published eight novels, biographies of Pasternak and Bulat Okudjava, several collections of short stories, three volumes of essays and eight collections of poetry. His biography of Pasternak won the National Bestseller Prize and the 2007 Big Book Prize and was a critical and commercial hit, enjoying three print runs.

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.

By David Parkinson
Returning for a second year, Academia Rossica's Russian Film Festival boasts a programme of 10 London premieres that even surpasses the excellence of the inaugural slate. With several actors and directors guesting to discuss their work, this is an outstanding opportunity to assess the current state of one of the world's great film industries.

Aleksandr Mikhailovich Terekhov was born in June 1966 in the provincial town of Tula in Central Russia. After serving in the army he graduated in journalism from the Moscow State University. He soon won acclaim as a writer with his stories about his army experiences and about the early perestroika chaos he was witnessing.

Mikhail Shishkin was born in 1961 and grew up in Moscow. He studied at the Moscow State Pedagogical Institute where he trained as a teacher. Following his graduation in 1982, Shishkin worked as a journalist at ‘Rovesnik’ and then, between 1985 and 1995, as a teacher of English and German. In 1995 he moved to Switzerland and he lives in Zurich to this day. Buoyed by Shishkin’s sophisticated language and phrases of unique melody, predictable comparisons have been made to that other writer of extraordinary linguistic versatility, Vladimir Nabokov. Though he understands himself as within a tradition of Russian writers in exile, for Shishkin, the question ‘to return or not to return to Russia’ simply does not exist. He asserts that ‘for a better understanding of the self one should live everywhere’.

Vladimir Makanin was born in 1937 in Orsk, a city which straddles the Ural River. Makanin himself recalls how every morning he would cross from the ‘European' side where he lived, into Asia, to go to school, before returning back to Europe in the evening. Makanin's love of chess led him to enter Moscow State University to study Mathematics - and for six years after that he was a mathematician working in a laboratory of the Dzherzhinsky Military Academy. He has lived in Moscow ever since.

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. Bykov's literary output is voluminous. He has published eight novels, biographies of Pasternak and Bulat Okudjava, several collections of short stories, three volumes of essays and eight collections of poetry. His biography of Pasternak won the National Bestseller Prize and the 2007 Big Book Prize and was a critical and commercial hit, enjoying three print runs.

Defined, in many ways, by the place of his birth, German Sadulaev was born in 1973 in the small village of Shali within the Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic of Chechnya-Ingushestia. His father was a Chechen, his mother a Russian Cossack, and he had two sisters. Schooled in Grozny, Sadulaev intended to study journalism at the then Leningrad State University, but switched at the last minute to the Faculty of Law. He moved to St Petersburg in 1989, aged sixteen, and has never returned to the Caucasus. Neither his first published piece of literary prose, in 2005, ‘Одна ласточка ещё не делает весны’ (‘One Swallow doesn’t make a Summer’) nor his first novel, which appeared in 2006, ‘Радио FUCK’ (‘Radio FUCK’) made any mention of Chechen issues. All changed, however, with his second major work, ‘Я – чеченец!’ (‘I am a Chechen!), a lyrical fusion of exotic legends, stories and memories, which dealt head on with the plight of his homeland. The book was shortlisted for National Bestseller Prize. Although Sadulaev was invited to meet Putin in 2007, the novel’s impassioned outcry against the Chechen war elicited a heated response within Russia’s political and literary elite. Sadulaev writes that ‘only art has the magic power to convey the insight that all life forms in this universe are one - and that there’s no such thing as someone else’s pain’. Sadulaev describes himself as ‘the last of the classical realists’ but his two most recent novels contain fantastical elements. ‘Таблетка’ (‘the Tablet’) published in 2008 is the story of a consignment of magical pills shipped into Russia from the West. Sadulaev works as a lawyer in a Russian import firm and continues to live in St Petersburg.

Aleksandr Mikhailovich Terekhov was born in June 1966 in the provincial town of Tula in Central Russia. After serving in the army he graduated in journalism from the Moscow State University. He soon won acclaim as a writer with his stories about his army experiences and about the early perestroika chaos he was witnessing.

Mikhail Shishkin was born in 1961 and grew up in Moscow. He studied at the Moscow State Pedagogical Institute where he trained as a teacher. Following his graduation in 1982, Shishkin worked as a journalist at ‘Rovesnik’ and then, between 1985 and 1995, as a teacher of English and German. In 1995 he moved to Switzerland and he lives in Zurich to this day. Buoyed by Shishkin’s sophisticated language and phrases of unique melody, predictable comparisons have been made to that other writer of extraordinary linguistic versatility, Vladimir Nabokov. Though he understands himself as within a tradition of Russian writers in exile, for Shishkin, the question ‘to return or not to return to Russia’ simply does not exist. He asserts that ‘for a better understanding of the self one should live everywhere’.

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.

Vladimir Makanin was born in 1937 in Orsk, a city which straddles the Ural River. Makanin himself recalls how every morning he would cross from the ‘European' side where he lived, into Asia, to go to school, before returning back to Europe in the evening. Makanin's love of chess led him to enter Moscow State University to study Mathematics - and for six years after that he was a mathematician working in a laboratory of the Dzherzhinsky Military Academy. He has lived in Moscow ever since.

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. Bykov's literary output is voluminous. He has published eight novels, biographies of Pasternak and Bulat Okudjava, several collections of short stories, three volumes of essays and eight collections of poetry. His biography of Pasternak won the National Bestseller Prize and the 2007 Big Book Prize and was a critical and commercial hit, enjoying three print runs.

Bykov's latest novel, ‘Списанные' (‘Spissanie') is the first of a grotesque fantasy trilogy. The protagonist, a young TV script writer, suddenly finds himself on a secret list which includes, in addition to him, 180 other Muscovites aged 16 to 60. Nobody knows who, or what, has put them on this list. Fear, humiliation, hopes, rumours and the ghosts of the noughties - all find their way into this novel, part-thriller, part-fable and part-political satire. Click here for the pdf:

by Yevgeny Zamyatin
Translated by Hugh Aplin
Hesperus Press, 2008, pp. 218
The citizens of the One State live in a condition of 'mathematically infallible happiness'. D-503 decides to keep a diary of his days working for the collective good in this clean, blue city state where nature, privacy and individual liberty have been eradicated. But over the course of his journal D-503 suddenly finds himself caught up in unthinkable and illegal activities - love and rebellion. Banned on its publication in Russia in1921, We is the first modern dystopian novel and a satire on state control that has once again become chillingly relevant.

by Andrei Rubanov
Translated by Andrew Bromfield
Old Street Publishing; August 2008; pp.521
Twenty-seven-year-old Andrei always knew his shady business dealings could get him into trouble. But aside from the odd scam or tax fiddle, he'd never done anything seriously wrong; nothing that thousands of other Russian businessmen weren't doing every day. And so he agreed to be the fall guy for his boss when things went wrong.

by Yevgeny Zamyatin
Translated by Natasha Randall
Vintage Classics; 2007; pp. 203
The citizens of the One State live in a condition of 'mathematically infallible happiness'. D-503 decides to keep a diary of his days working for the collective good in this clean, blue city state where nature, privacy and individual liberty have been eradicated

By David Parkinson
Returning for a second year, Academia Rossica's Russian Film Festival boasts a programme of 10 London premieres that even surpasses the excellence of the inaugural slate. With several actors and directors guesting to discuss their work, this is an outstanding opportunity to assess the current state of one of the world's great film industries.

Film producer, founder of the Telluride Film Festival and jury member of numerous international film festivals
Tom has been the programme curator for the Documentary Film Institute, San Francisco State University since 2005. In 1974, Tom co-founded the Telluride Film Festival along with Bill Pence and James Card.

By David Parkinson
Returning for a second year, Academia Rossica's Russian Film Festival boasts a programme of 10 London premieres that even surpasses the excellence of the inaugural slate. With several actors and directors guesting to discuss their work, this is an outstanding opportunity to assess the current state of one of the world's great film industries.

Director, 'Rock Monologue'
Born in 1956, Minsk. Vladimir studied history at the Belarus State University. He then completed a course for assistant and second unit directors at VGIK (Moscow).

Film producer, founder of the Telluride Film Festival and jury member of numerous international film festivals
Tom has been the programme curator for the Documentary Film Institute, San Francisco State University since 2005. In 1974, Tom co-founded the Telluride Film Festival along with Bill Pence and James Card.

Scriptwriter, 20 Cigarettes
Dmitry was born in 1974 in Moscow. In 2000 he entered the scriptwriting department at the Russian State Institute of Cinematography.