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.

I was delighted and astonished when I received the invitation to be one of the judges of this year’s ‘Rossica’ Translation Prize. Delighted – because, by accepting, I would be able to indulge myself with a clear conscience in reading (or, as it often turned out, rereading) many works of Russian literature rather than doing what I all too often do – reading works about Russian literature (and various other things). Astonished – because I am not a prolific or high-profile translator of Russian literature, so I was unsure about why I had been chosen. However, not being known for false modesty, I did feel that I was reasonably well qualified for the work ahead.

Norman Stone has been described as ‘a legendary teacher’ when he was professor of modern history at Oxford University. Always controversial and never dull, his outspoken views on many aspects of European and Russian history are always thought-provoking and guaranteed to stimulate fierce debate. He is the prize-winning author of books on the First World War and Hitler. He was professor of modern history at Oxford from 1984 to 1995, from where he moved to take up the post of director of the Russian-Turkish Centre at Bilkent University, Ankara. For the last ten years he has divided his time between Oxford and Turkey, and he believes that living abroad there has given him a new perspective on Europe, and particularly on Russia, about which he has said, ‘When you realise that Tatar-Turkey dimension, you understand the thing an awful lot better.’ It is a privilege to have Professor Norman Stone as a guest at our Russian Language and Literature Week and audiences will not fail to be stimulated by his erudition and originality of thought.

Revelations in Colour
Dionisy & KandinskyThis issue of ROSSICA is dedicated to two great Russian artists, Dionisy and Vasily Kandinsky who were divided by four centuries.

Revelations in Colour
Dionisy & KandinskyThis issue of ROSSICA is dedicated to two great Russian artists, Dionisy and Vasily Kandinsky who were divided by four centuries.

Professor of International Politics, Norman Stone has been described as ‘a legendary teacher’ when he was professor of modern history at Oxford University. Always controversial and never dull, his outspoken views on many aspects of European and Russian history are always thought-provoking and guaranteed to stimulate fierce debate. He is the prize-winning author of books on the First World War and Hitler. He was professor of modern history at Oxford from 1984 to 1995, from where he moved to take up the post of director of the Russian-Turkish Centre at Bilkent University, Ankara.