Sending Word

Russian publishers and writers join forces to promote Russian literature abroad.

By Galina Stolyarova

The St. Petersburg Times

Published: March 6, 2013 (Issue # 1749)

The fourth annual Slovo festival kicked off in London on Tuesday with an evening of poetry read by Russia’s up-and-coming poet Vera Polozkova. An overnight sensation, Polozkova started out as an obscure blogger, whose image-rich verse gained her sweeping popularity.

Often regarded as “the greatest sensation among the younger generation of Russian poets,” Polozkova stages her readings in a way that resembles a rock concert and is often being joined onstage by live musicians.

The Slovo festival, now in its fourth year, is organized by Academia Rossica, a London-based cultural organization dedicated to encouraging cultural exchange between Russia and the UK.

The event is the only Russian literature festival to be held outside of Russia.

Conceived by its creators as a “celebration of Russian literature,” the festival brings to London a wealth of contemporary Russian writing talent from the already-bestselling authors of the caliber of Dmitry Bykov and Mikhail Shishkin to up-an-coming writers of the younger generations.

“From Pushkin to Pelevin, Dostoevsky to Shishkin, Mayakovsky to Bykov — literature has always been Russia’s calling card and writers have been its most important ambassadors,” said Svetlana Adjoubei, the director of Academia Rossica. “We are thrilled to be welcoming some of the greatest living Russian writers to join us in exploring the best in contemporary Russian literature.”

In the past five years, Russian publishers have been actively trying to reach out to a new readership in Europe. A major disadvantage of the Russian stands at international book fairs, compared to the vast majority of other participants, was usually the fact that most of the editions were in Russian.

Academia Rossica is on a crusade to change that. Its events, from poetry readings to roundtable discussions, are almost always accompanied by a translation, and the organization is enthusiastic about translating exciting new authors.

March 8 sees a discussion titled “Rethinking History Through Literature,” at Waterstones Piccadilly, where renowned Russian historical novelist Vladimir Sharov will talk about his writing with the translator Oliver Ready, who translated Sharov’s novel “Before and During.”

Another not-to-be-missed event will take place March 10 at MacDougall Arts, a specialist auction house. Alexander Etkind, a professor of Russian Literature and Cultural History at the University of Cambridge, will join the prominent and outspoken writer Dmitry Bykov to discuss Etkind’s recent book “Internal Colonization: Russia’s Imperial Experience,” in which the author takes a post-colonial approach to the country’s cultural history.

Bykov, the author of an award-winning biography of Boris Pasternak and the politically charged novel “ZhD,” will also host an evening of his own on March 12 at Waterstones Piccadilly.

For more information and a schedule of events, visit Academia Rossica’s website: www.academia-rossica.org