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.

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!

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, which won best heroic-romantic fantasy and science-fiction award in 1995, and The Nuclear Dream.

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

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.

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.

When Academia Rossica approached me to serve on the jury for their translation prize, I was excited and intrigued. What would the field be like, how many entries would there be, were there still publishers around in the West willing to produce translations of serious Russian works? The classics apart, was there more to Russian literature for English-speaking people than penguins and historical detectives? My caricature of the average Western reader's view of Russian literature today can perhaps be excused in part by my own education.

Izbavi Bog i nas ot etakikh sudei

A few weeks ago something strange happened. Someone sent me, through the post, ten million printed words – I’ll repeat that, in case you weren’t concentrating: ten million words – nearly half of them in a difficult foreign language. I was told to get reading them.

A hallmark of Shtypel's poetry is its lyrical playfulness matching a complex structure - demanding from the reader an active, if constrained, co-operation. Vladimir Gubailovsky of ‘Русский журнал' (‘Russian Journal') has said of Stypel that ‘he is, above all else, clear. This does not mean,' Gubailovsky continues, ‘that his verse is in any way basic - in fact quite the contrary. What really stays with you after reading Shtypel is a sense of poetic clarity'.

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.

By Prudence Ivy
The second ever Russian Film Festival in London opened last Thursday night and I was at the press conference on Friday to mark its opening and get the general lowdown on contemporary Russian cinema from the festival’s organisers and some of the principle directors, actors and producers.

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.

May 2008
Cannes, France
It seems that for Russian cinema, good things come in threes: the Russian film industry suitably showcased at the first ever Russian film pavilion; leading Russian production and distribution companies present their best creations at the International Marché du Film; and stunning triumphs for first-time feature film directors Sergei Dvortsevoy and Valeria Gai-Germanika!

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.

by Sergei Lukyanenko
Translated by Andrew Bromfield
William Heinemann of The Random House Group, 2007, pp. 440
In Twilight Watch, the Others face their greatest threat yet. A renegade Other, his identity as yet unknown, has absconded with a fabled spell-book of untold power and appears bent on attacking the entire earth. Now forces of the Light and the Dark - the Night Watch and the Day Watch - must cooperate to stop him.

by Victor Pelevin
Translated by Marina Wright
Published as part of the magazine ‘London Miscellany’ May 2007; pp.8
The first ever winner of the Russian Little Booker Prize, Victor Pelevin is one of the most prominent writers in Russian today. Since his debut, Pelevin's work continues to develop in adventurous ways. In his latest translated offering Akiko, a victim's obsession with an online porn site devolves into a losing pas de deux with a computer-generated concubine and her monkey Mao.

by Andrey Platonov
Translated by Robert and Elizabeth Chandler with Angela Livingstone, Olga Meerson and Eric Naiman
New York Review of Books; 2007; pp. 58
The Soviet writer Andrey Platonov saw much of his work suppressed or censored in his lifetime. In recent decades, however, these lost works have reemerged, and the eerie poetry and poignant humanity of Platonov's vision have become ever more clear. For Nadezhda Mandelstam and Joseph Brodsky, Platonov was the writer who most profoundly registered the spiritual shock of revolution.

by Tolstoy
Translated Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky
Vintage Classics; 2007; pp. 1215
War and Peace is one of the richest novels ever written. Tolstoy’s enthralling epic combines history and fiction in his depiction of Russia’s lengthy war with the French armies of Napoleon and its effects on the domestic lives of those caught up in the conflict.

By Prudence Ivy
The second ever Russian Film Festival in London opened last Thursday night and I was at the press conference on Friday to mark its opening and get the general lowdown on contemporary Russian cinema from the festival’s organisers and some of the principle directors, actors and producers.

By Prudence Ivy
The second ever Russian Film Festival in London opened last Thursday night and I was at the press conference on Friday to mark its opening and get the general lowdown on contemporary Russian cinema from the festival’s organisers and some of the principle directors, actors and producers.

Director of TV series about Russia, 'Oligarchs'
Patrick is one of Britain's leading documentary film makers, with a particular commitment to quality of image and depth of analysis - his series on the National Trust won both critical acclaim and the Bafta for best factual series, and gave BBC4 its highest ever audience.

Russia, 2007, 90 min
Dir. Alexander Gornovsky
This dynamic and ironic work comes from the award winning scriptwriter of Pavel Lungin’s ‘The Island’. The film follows a day in the life of Moscow businessman Andrei, as events take ever more dramatic turns with each cigarette that he smokes.

Russia, 2008, 104 min
Dir. Mikhail Kalatozishvili
A film created by the grandson of the great Mikhail Kalatozov, the only Russian director to ever win a Palme d’Or. 'Wild Field' tells the story of a young doctor called Dmitri who is sent to the Kazakh steppe.

10 April – 11 May
Hampstead Theatre
Tickets: 020 7722 9301 or
www.hampsteadtheatre.com
Originally staged at the National Theatre, this fantastic stage-version breathes vivid life into one of the greatest works of fiction ever written. Adapted by Helen Edmunson from the novel by Tolstoy
Directed by Nancy Meckler & Polly Teale

14-16 April
London Book Fair, Earls Court, London
The first ever Russian stand at the London Book Fair will present books and publishing programmes of 20 leading publishers from St Petersburg and Moscow as well as a continuous 3-day programme of debates on contemporary Russian culture, politics and the future of Russo-British relations.

Born in 1967, Dmitry Bykov is a prolific, award-winning prose writer, whose works almost invariably give rise to heated debates in the literary press. He is also a widely published poet of some eight collections of poetry and he recently published an impressive, detailed new biography on Boris Pasternak, for which he was awarded the ‘Big Book' prize in 2007. Since the 1990s, Dmitry Bykov has produced a constant stream of newspaper articles, reviews and essays on a wide range of subjects from literature to politics. He has also hosted a weekly radio show and some television discussion programmes. Bykov goes out to court controversy and stimulate discussion, as can be seen in his recently published novel Zh.D., taken from two Russian letters of the alphabet: ‘It's going to be fiercely Russophobic and fiercely anti-Semitic,' he said just before the novel's publication. He went on, ‘It depicts both Russians and Jews as virus nations, which bring misfortune and decay to whatever they're trying to colonize. It's the best book I've ever written, it's actually the best book that can possibly be written today, and it's very, very funny.' Whatever else he might do, Dmitry Bykov is sure to cause a lively debate by his audacious originality!

Interpreting Russia
This issue is dedicated to the short-listed finalists and the Winner of the first Rossica Prize.

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.

Russian Nights
‘Russian Nights’ Festival is the largest, most ambitious and most varied festival of Russian culture ever to be staged in London. It brings a remarkable range of music and theatre, painting and poetry, photography and architecture to the capital.

Russian Nights
‘Russian Nights’ Festival is the largest, most ambitious and most varied festival of Russian culture ever to be staged in London. It brings a remarkable range of music and theatre, painting and poetry, photography and architecture to the capital.

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.

Interpreting Russia
This issue is dedicated to the short-listed finalists and the Winner of the first Rossica Prize.

10 April – 11 May
Hampstead Theatre
Tickets: 020 7722 9301 or
www.hampsteadtheatre.com
Originally staged at the National Theatre, this fantastic stage-version breathes vivid life into one of the greatest works of fiction ever written. Adapted by Helen Edmunson from the novel by Tolstoy
Directed by Nancy Meckler & Polly Teale

14-16 April
London Book Fair, Earls Court, London
The first ever Russian stand at the London Book Fair will present books and publishing programmes of 20 leading publishers from St Petersburg and Moscow as well as a continuous 3-day programme of debates on contemporary Russian culture, politics and the future of Russo-British relations.

Born in 1967, Dmitry Bykov is a prolific, award-winning prose writer, whose works almost invariably give rise to heated debates in the literary press. He is also a widely published poet of some eight collections of poetry and he recently published an impressive, detailed new biography on Boris Pasternak, for which he was awarded the ‘Big Book' prize in 2007. Since the 1990s, Dmitry Bykov has produced a constant stream of newspaper articles, reviews and essays on a wide range of subjects from literature to politics. He has also hosted a weekly radio show and some television discussion programmes.