4 June, 10.30 am, 3.30 pm
MacDougall's Arts
MacDougall’s Russian Art Auction on 4 June 2014 will feature important works by key figures of the Russian avant-garde, including Robert Falk, Pavel Kuznetsov, Mikhail Larionov, Natalia Goncharova and many others.

We are pleased to invite you to the presentation of The Prime Russian Magazine which will take place at 6.30 p.m. on November 19 at Waterstones, Piccadilly. The magazine has been successfully published in Russia for four years. Starting from November 2013 it will be available from Waterstones Piccadilly in London and by subscription. The presentation will host a panel discussion on Marx & Freedom. Marxism was the main subject of one of The PRM’s special issues. The list of panellists includes Maxim Semelyak, Lev Danilkin, Alexsandr Pantsov and Aleksey Tzvetkov. They will discuss Karl Marx, his legacy and the Marxist approach to the concept of Freedom using the example of Soviet and, more broadly, modern Russian Marxism. It should be noted that over the last few years Marxism has been the subject of growing interest in the country where it dominated, perhaps unsuccessfully, the political landscape for more than half a century. Is this renewed interest a case of mass masochism, a passing fashion or a vital need? Why is Marxism, seemingly rejected and forgotten by Russians in the 1990s, becoming popular in today’s Russia? Perhaps Aleksey Tzvetkov's article on Evald Ilyenkov, published in The PRM special issue on Marxism, can provide some answers. The author dwells on the nature of Soviet Marxism by telling the personal story of a Marxist philosopher. Maxim Semelyak Maxim Semelyak is a journalist and The PRM’s Editor-in-Chief. After graduating from Moscow State University with a degree in Philosophy he has worked with a number of Russian print publications, including Afisha, Vedomosti, Playboy Russia and Vremya Novostey (News Time). At the turn of the century he was one of the leading music critics in Russia. He wrote the history of the Russian ska punk band — «Leningrad» — and launched The Forbes Kazakhstan magazine. Lev Danilkin Lev Danilkin is a journalist and The PRM’s Deputy Editor-in-Chief. He is one of the best Russian literary critics and the author of two biographies: «Man with an Egg» (about Alexander Prokhanov — a Russian journalist and writer) and «Yuri Gagarin». He translated Julian Barnes’ «Letters from London» into Russian. Lev Danilkin graduated from Moscow State University with a degree in Philology. He has written literary reviews for Vedomosti and Afisha. Aleksey Tzvetkov Aleksey Tzvetkov is a Marxist philosopher, a public figure, one of the founders of Falanster Bookshop, and a winner of the Nonconformism Award. He is the author of several books: «Urban Guerrilla’s Diary» (Дневник городского партизана), «Destroy After Reading» (После прочтения уничтожить) and «Pop Marxism» (Поп-марксизм). Alexsandr Pantsov Russian-American sinologist, historian, writer and translator. A doctor of historical sciences and professor at Capital University, Ohio. He is the author of more than one hundred academic papers and his works include the world's most comprehensive biographies of Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaopong, both of which were based on his own original research and subsequently published in the series “Lives of Remarkable People”. In the edition of Prime Russian Magazine dedicated to Marxism, he wrote an essay on the genesis of different forms of Marxism implemented in modern China within the context of supermarkets. The Prime Russian Magazine The magazine highlights ideas that have the potential to influence the future of mankind. It addresses a broad range of topics, touching on philosophy, sociology, the history of culture, religion, psychology and geography. Normally, each issue covers one major topic: progress, education, war, America, laughter, miracle, memory, the post-human, the child and reading to name just a few. The list of authors includes writers, scientists, philosophers, poets and translators. Emphasis is placed on expert opinion rather than journalism as such; and the editors would rather choose a passage from a book than a critical review. Over the years the magazine has published the works of Julian Barnes, Ian McEwen, Sergey Kapitza, Slavoj Žižek, Jacques Attali, Franco Berardi, Hassim Taleb, Derek Walcott, Pyotr Shchedrovitsky, Robert Kaplan, Terry Eagleton, Vladimir Mikushevich, Georgy Mirsky, Olga Sedakova, Paul Bogard, Maxim Kantor, Douglas Copeland, Dominic Lieven, Yuri Mamleev, Alexander Ilichevsky, Boris Kupriyanov, Harm de Blij, and many more. RSVP is essential. Please reply to rsvp@academia-rossica.org For more information please contact Academia Rossica on press@academia-rossica.orgor call us on 0207 287 2614, 0207 287 5712

17 May – 29 September
Houghton Hall, King’s Lynn, Norfolk PE31 6UE
One of the most eagerly anticipated events this summer for the UK art world will be the return of around 60 masterpieces from the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg to their former home, Houghton Hall in Norfolk.

The judges of the Rossica Translation Prize for 2014 faced an embarrassment of riches. The long-list was exceptionally strong this year, and included many new and gifted translators who will be shaping the reception of Russian literature in English for years to come. No less promisingly, it also included a large number of important works translated into English for the first time. All the long-listed translators and publishers are to be congratulated on what can truthfully be called an urozhainyi god, or ‘year of plenty’.

A series of informal talks on Russian literature in May and June 2012. No prior knowledge needed.

Academia Rossica is pleased to announce the shortlists for both the Rossica Translation Prize and the Rossica Young Translators Award.

3-7 April 2012, London Coliseum
The celebrated Eifman ballet company comes to the London Coliseum with two spectacular UK premieres: Anna Karenina and Onegin.

By Vasily Grossman
Translated by Robert and Elizabeth Chandler with Anna Aslanyan
Harvill Secker; 2010; pp. 289
ISBN 978-1-846-55236-6
Ivan Grigoryevich has been in the Gulag for thirty years. Released after Stalin's death, he finds that the years of terror have imposed a collective moral slavery. He must struggle to find a place for himself in an unfamiliar world. But in a novel that seeks to take in the whole tragedy of Soviet history, Ivan's story is only one among many. Everything Flows is an unbearably lucid novel about human suffering from one of the giants of twentieth-century literature.

By Vasily Grossman
Translated by Robert and Elizabeth Chandler with Olga Mukovnikova
Maclehose Press; 2010; pp. 392
Vasily Grossman is widely recognized as one of the outstanding literary figures of the twentieth century. The short fiction collected here - satire, comedy, tragedy and pure narrative - illustrate the remarkable breadth of his work, and demonstrate all the bold intelligence, delicate irony and extraordinary vividness for which he has become known. In addition to the eleven stories, this volume includes the complete text of 'The Hell of Treblinka', one of the first descriptions of a Nazi extermination camp.

By Andrey Platonov
Translated by Robert and Elizabeth Chandler and Olga Meerson
Vintage Books; 2009; pp. 224
ISBN 978-0-099-52974-3
One of his greatest works, The Foundation Pit begins with a group of workers digging a giant pit. The pit is intended for the foundations of a tower that will be a home to the whole of the local proletariat – but the tower is never built and the pit comes to be used as a grave for the little orphaned girl who had symbolized the workers’ hopes of a bright new future.The novel can be read as Platonov’s response to the devastation brought about by Stalin’s policies of industrialization and the collectivization.

By Andrey Platonov
Translated by Robert and Elizabeth Chandler and Olga Meerson
Vintage Books; 2009; pp. 224
ISBN 978-0-099-52974-3
One of his greatest works, The Foundation Pit begins with a group of workers digging a giant pit. The pit is intended for the foundations of a tower that will be a home to the whole of the local proletariat – but the tower is never built and the pit comes to be used as a grave for the little orphaned girl who had symbolized the workers’ hopes of a bright new future.The novel can be read as Platonov’s response to the devastation brought about by Stalin’s policies of industrialization and the collectivization.

By Vasily Grossman
Translated by Robert and Elizabeth Chandler with Olga Mukovnikova
Maclehose Press; 2010; pp. 392
Vasily Grossman is widely recognized as one of the outstanding literary figures of the twentieth century. The short fiction collected here - satire, comedy, tragedy and pure narrative - illustrate the remarkable breadth of his work, and demonstrate all the bold intelligence, delicate irony and extraordinary vividness for which he has become known. In addition to the eleven stories, this volume includes the complete text of 'The Hell of Treblinka', one of the first descriptions of a Nazi extermination camp.

By Vasily Grossman
Translated by Robert and Elizabeth Chandler with Anna Aslanyan
Harvill Secker; 2010; pp. 289
ISBN 978-1-846-55236-6
Ivan Grigoryevich has been in the Gulag for thirty years. Released after Stalin's death, he finds that the years of terror have imposed a collective moral slavery. He must struggle to find a place for himself in an unfamiliar world. But in a novel that seeks to take in the whole tragedy of Soviet history, Ivan's story is only one among many. Everything Flows is an unbearably lucid novel about human suffering from one of the giants of twentieth-century literature.

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.

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.

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.

Winner of the Rossica Young Translators Award 2010 announced! On 21 April the winner of the RYTA was announced by judges Oliver Ready and Robert Chandler at a special ceremony in the PEN Literary Café at the London Book Fair. The winner is: Leo Shtutin for his translation of an extract from Mikhail Shishkin's novel Letter-Book (Письмовник) Leo Shtutin receives £500 and an invitation from Academia Rossica to travel to Moscow to take part in a Translators' Congress in September 2010. The Congress will be a high-profile event which will take place during the International Moscow Book Fair and in which more 100 translators of Russian literature will take part.

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.

by Alexander Pushkin
Translated by Robert and Elizabeth Chandler
Hesperus Press, 2008, pp. 115
Pushkin's version of the historical novel in the style of Walter Scott, this final prose work also reflects his fascination with and research into Russian history of the 18th century. During the reign of Catherine the Great, the young Grinev sets out for his new career in the army and en route performs an act of kindness by giving his warm coat to a man freezing in a blizzard.

by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Translated by Robert Maguire
Penguin, 2008, pp.787
Pyotr and Stavrogin are the leaders of a Russian revolutionary cell. Their aim is to overthrow the Tsar, destroy society and seize power for themselves. Together they train terrorists who are willing to go to any lengths to achieve their goals – even if the mission means suicide. But when it seems the group is about to be discovered, will their recruits be willing to kill one of their own circle in order to cover their tracks?

by Rafael Grugman
Translated by Geoffrey Carlson
Liberty Publishing House, 2008, pp.239
The scene is the twenty-third century. At the heart of the novel is a love story between a man and a woman who are forced to hide their feelings and pass as homosexuals. Nontraditional Love describes a homosexual world in which heterosexual marriages are forbidden. World history and the classics of world literature Tolstoy, Shakespeare... have been falsified in order to support the ideology of this opposite world.

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.

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