29 October - 7 November, Apollo Piccadilly
The 4th Russian Film starts this Friday, 29 October, featuring the best in new Russian film, documentaries and animation and opens with The Ugly Duckling, master animator Garry Bardin's sparky and affecting stop-motion animation with Orwellian overtones. All films are shown in Russian with English subtitles.

24 September - 3 October
Over 40 events covering dance, film, music, poetry, theatre and visual art will take place across Hampstead and Highgate. The programme includes Matthew Hurt’s 'Lightening Conductor' a dramatic profile of Diaghilev (played by Simon Callow) as well as classical music concerts focusing on the composers who worked with Diaghilev and an exhibition of photographs of Ballets Russes dancer Tamara Karsavina.
There will also a series of events entitled ‘Russian Voices’ which focus on Anton Chekhov (Jonathan Miller), Leo Tolstoy (Zinovy Zinik), the Diaries of Sofia Tolstoy and Anna Akhmatova’s cycle of poems, ‘Requiem’, read by Glenda Jackson.

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.

The Russkiy Mir Foundation in collaboration with Academia Rossica is launching a programme of grants for literary translation from Russian into English. This programme aims to promote Russian literature internationally and facilitate cultural and intellectual links between Russia and the English-speaking world. We invite publishers and translators to apply for funding to translate works from Russian into English. We are particularly keen to support projects that aim to bring original literary projects and works by contemporary Russian writers to a wider English audience. On the whole, priority is given to translation of contemporary fiction and poetry; literary non-fiction titles and new translations of classics may also be eligible if they are exceptional in terms of literary value. The scheme supports only translations from the original Russian text.

4th Russian Film Festival, 29 October – 7 November Dear Friends! The Russian Film Festival is getting ready to present London with this year's best premieres in Russian cinema. The Main Programme As always, the main festival programme showcases the best Russian films, award-winners at major international and Russian film festivals. These films include, 'Silent Souls' (Ovsyanki), directed by Alexei Fedorchenko and winner of three prizes at the Venice Film Festival, 'How I Ended This Summer' by Alexei Popogrebsky, awarded prizes for best actor and best cinematography at the Berlinale, 'One War' by Vera Glagoleva, Grand Prix winner at Sofia International Film Festival and Russia's nomination for the Oscars and Svetlana Proscurina's latest film 'The Truce', winner of the main prize at Kinotavr. As in previous years, guests include directors, producers and actors who come to London specially to present their films at the festival. Documentaries – 'Noughties Art' This year's documentary programme sums up the last decade with screenings of the ten best Russian documentary films, one for each year. The programme is presented by the great director and documentary maker, Vitaly Mansky, president of the ArtDocFest. Animation Alongside the main programme and documentaries, we have also put together a comprehensive and diverse programme of animation. As part of our festival 'Astral dogs Belka and Strelka' take a trip to outer space captained by director Inna Evlannikova, while Irina Evteeva, famous for her graceful and original style, brings 'Little Tragedies' to the screen. These films will capture the hearts of adults and childen alike. As well as an extensive programme of full length animation, we will be screening a special programme for our young audiences, presenting the best of award-winning Russian animated films of recent years Special Screenings This year's film festival also includes a retrospective of the great actor and director Sergei Bondarchuk's films and the works of Leo Tolstoy on film, as well as a retrospective of masters of Soviet and Russian animation. Venue For the fourth year in a row the Russian Film Festival will take place at the Apollo Piccadilly, one of London's best cinemas.

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!

Tolstoy's spirit returns to ancient lands: James Meek finds the power that Count Leo Tolstoy still holds over Russia's soul beating strongly in the heart of the novelist's great great grandson - the new director of his old estate, Yasnaya Polyana

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

We are proud to announce the programme of Russian events at the London Book Fair 2010. Read here for details of seminars, meetings and special events at Publishers' Day, Authors' Day and Translators' Day and profiles of our celebrated guest speakers. These include include the authors Dmitry Bykov, Sergey Lukyanenko, Vladimir Sharov, Marina Galina and Olga Slavnikova, as well the deputy head of the Russian Federal Agency of Press and Mass Communication, Vladimir Grigoriev, and the brilliant literary critic, Lev Danilkin.

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.

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.

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.

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'.

Denis Gutsko was born in Tbilisi in 1969. In 1989 he moved to Rostov-on-Don where he lives to this day. He studied at the Geology and Geography Faculty of Rostov University and served a stint in the Soviet army. His father fought in the Abkhazian-Georgian conflicts of the early 1990s. After demobilisation Gutsko had difficulties with official registration and for several years worked as a bodyguard for a commercial security firm, writing prose in his spare time. Gutsko made his literary debut in 2000 with the short story ‘Прирученный лев’ (‘The Domesticated Lion’) and has since been published frequently in literary journals and magazines. His novel ‘Без Рути-Следа’ (‘Without Track or Trace’) which explores the tribulations of a Russian born in Tbilisi, won the Boris Sokolov Prize in 2005 and, in controversial circumstances, the Russian Booker Prize in the same year - despite a vote of four to one in his favour, the Booker Prize committee’s chairman publicly refused to name Gutsko the winner.

By Ricky Ghosh Dastidar
The 2nd Russian Film Festival was held in London recently by the cultural organisation Academia Rossica. Known for their work in promoting the best of Russian arts, the festival comprised screenings of feature films and documentaries, as well as discussions and masterclasses.

6 June, 7pm, afterparty with DJ Taras till 01.00
O2 Arena
Rock group BI-2 is one of the most famous Russian rock groups. Since its formation in 1989 the group has released many very successful albums, has won some very prestigious awards including MTV Russia Music Awards in 2007, has been involved in several major music projects and has produced soundtracks to some of the very best Russian action movies, including Brat-2 (Brother-2). Their music is well known and easily recognizable for its rock-and-roll drive and fun-loving lyrics.

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’.

Irina Polyanskaya (1952-2004) was the most autobiographical of recent Russian writers, as well as one of the most accomplished. Repelled by the impersonality of history as studied in schools or described in books, she focussed instead on the human past of her family and on family life in general, her view of which was anything but sentimenal. Polyanskaya was born in 1953, and spent her early years in the ‘Zone' in the Urals, where her convict father was put to work as a scientist. She trained as an actress, studied music, and later attended the Literary Institue in Moscow. For many years, her literary output was largely confined to the genre of the short story, but her last years (before illness cut short her life) brought the publication of several longer works, including The Passing of the Shade (Prokhozhdenie teni, 1997) and The Reading Water (Chitayushchaya voda, 2001). The thread of music runs through the first; cinematic motifs dominate the second.

Despite the numerous linguistic obstacles thrown up by his novels, especially in their opening sections, Aleksei Ivanov has enjoyed phenomenal popular and critical success in the past five years. In his two breakthrough ‘historical' novels of adventure and fantasy, Heart of the Taiga (Serdtse Parmy, 2003) and Gold of the Rebellion, or Down the River of Gorges (Zoloto bunta, ili vniz po reke tesnin, 2005), Ivanov gives full expression to his fascination with local lore and its relation to Russian history. By contrast, The Geographer who Drank Away his Globe (Geograf globus propil, 2003) and Cheap Porn (the English title given by Ivanov's agents to the untranslatable Bluda i MUDO, 2007) have belied Ivanov's reputation as the kraeved (local historian) from Perm.

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’.

25 February, 20.00
Charlie Wright's, Old Street
£7
A trio widely regarded as the best in Russian improvised jazz. Each musician - from trumpeter Vyacheslav Gaivoronsky to bassist Vladimir Volkov to pianist Andrei Kondakov - is a virtuoso in his own right, a master of improvisation and brilliant composer.

26 February, 20.00
£8
Charlie Wright's, Old Street
"Mass Ave Project" is a fusion of styles, personalities, grooves and harmonies consisting of some of the best graduates and students of the world-renowned Berklee College of Music. The music played is all-original instrumental Jamiroquai meets John Scofield meets Herbie Hancock with elements of jazz and fusion.

by Dmitry Golynko
Eugene Ostashevsky & Rebecca Bella with Simona Schneider
Ugly Duckling Presse, 2008, pp.143
Dmitry Golynko’s first English-language release, As It Turned Out, features both earlier and more current poetry, drawing on the author’s three books as well as internet and unpublished materials. The translators collaborated with the editor and the author to achieve the closest possible correspondence to the original Russian texts, all of which appear on facing pages.

by Marina Tsvetaeva
Translated by Belinda Cooke
Worple Press, 2008, pp.133
The title of this book is an attempt to show Tsvetaeva as just one of Stalin's many victims, as well as a woman driven by a single-minded pursuit of her poetic muse. The 'Beggar woman' draws attention both to her desperate poverty and literal need to beg at times and to the various hyperbolic female selves seen in the poetry.

by Larissa Miller
Translated by Richard McKane
Arc Publications, 2008, pp.132
Larissa Miller is one of Russia's most highly-regarded writers - novelist, essayist and poet - and this selection from her collection "Between the Cloud and the Pit" (1999) spans her poetic output from the 1960s to the millennium. "Guests of Eternity" is a presentation, in chronological order, of poems written (but not published) in the three decades preceding glasnost' as well as the final decade of the twentieth century.

by Viktor Shklovsky
Translated by Shushan Avagyan
Dalkey Archive Press; 2007; pp. 428
One of the greatest literary minds of the twentieth century, Viktor Shklovsky writes the critical equivalent of what Ross Chambers calls "loiterature"—writing that roams, playfully digresses, moving freely between the literary work and the world.

by Ismail Gasprali
Translated by Azade-Ayse Rorlich
Istanbul: Isis Press; 2008; pp. 206
Through Ismail Gasprali's French and African Letters Professor Rorlich offers evidence regarding the scope of Muslim modernism in late imperial Russia contributing at the same time to a better understanding of the debates on gender issues that shaped the modernist discourse.

By Ricky Ghosh Dastidar
The 2nd Russian Film Festival was held in London recently by the cultural organisation Academia Rossica. Known for their work in promoting the best of Russian arts, the festival comprised screenings of feature films and documentaries, as well as discussions and masterclasses.

Filmmaker, historian
Evgeny Tsymbal is the only BAFTA-winning Russian film director. Little known to mainstream film goers, he is well respected in Russian and European artistic and intellectual circles as a documentary filmmaker, writer and film historian.

Russia, 2007, 69 min
Dir. Vladimir Kozlov
A documentary about the legendary musician Yuri Morozov, who created a subversive, rebellious new style of Eastern rock during the Brezhnev era. The film features previously unseen KG footage, as well as homemade videos of underground rock concerts. It was made under the creative patronage of Otar Iosseliani. Presented by director Vladimir Kozlov.