May 01, 2009 Faith in Progress By Laura Williams One fine spring day, a new telephone appeared in the village of Chukhrai. A beautiful thing. But it connected to no one or no thing.
March 01, 2008 Rural Medicine: Remedies and Realities By Laura Williams Columnist Laura Williams recounts in run-ins with the Russian health care system, village-style.
July 01, 2007 Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves By Laura Williams A crime is committed in Laura's village by some wandering gypsies. So her husband takes the law into his own hands...
July 01, 2006 Village Injustice By Laura Williams This modern tale of two hapless village drunks and their run-in with the Russian justice system could be taken out of Chekhov. But, sadly, it is non-fiction.
May 01, 2006 Chado, the Roving Superdog By Laura Williams "A dog is a basic necessity in the village, and the bigger the dog, the better..." But this is not a story about a big dog, at least not physically...
March 01, 2006 Village Fashion By Laura Williams The latest, most up-to-date guide of what to wear down in the village, where there is no bad weather, just bad clothing!
January 01, 2006 The Road to New Year's By Laura Williams A trip home for is a challenging start to a New Year and a new marriage.
September 01, 2005 To Bathe or Not to Bathe By Laura Williams Our neighbor Kalkan has probably been clean and sober only a dozen times in his life. The last time he bathed in a barrel of water warmed in a wood stove he came down with a bad cold and vowed never to do it again.
November 01, 2004 Bringing in the New Year By Laura Williams From her village in the Bryansk region, Laura Williams offers a distinctly rural picture of the New Year's holidays in Russia.
September 01, 2004 Fall in the Morning, Winter in the Afternoon By Laura Williams The change from summer to fall invokes many rituals and holidays. The holiday of Pokrov is rich with traditions of marriage.
October 01, 2021 to October 09, 2021 Tchaikovsky's The Maid of Orleans Town Hall Theater | Middlebury, VT Opera Company of Middlebury (VT) will present an operatic rarity – Tchaikovsky's version of the Joan of Arc story, Orleanskaya deva or The Maid of Orleans. It will be sung in Russian with English subtitles. A sweeping tale in the style of French grand opera, it offers stunning orchestral passages, vibrant choruses, and a heroic role for the young mezzo-soprano playing Joan, sung here by Annie Rosen. Opera
October 15, 2021 to April 03, 2022 Icons for Our Time: Orthodox Art from Around the World Museum of Russian Icons | Clinton, MA Fifteen contemporary icons from fifteen countries explore iconography today. Presented in celebration of the museum's 15th Anniversary. Art Exhibit
September 01, 2021 to October 17, 2021 Communism Through the Lens: Everyday Life Captured by Women Photographers in the Dodge Collection Dodge Wing Lower Level | New Brunswick, NJ Spanning almost the entirety of the Soviet Union's history from the 1920s through the 1990s, this exhibition of rarely seen images explores themes of political art, documentary photography, and gender, offering a historical look at how women photographers interpreted life in the communist state. Art Exhibit
November 01, 2021 to November 30, 2021 Yuri Gorbachev's 18th Annual Exhibition at the Byrne Gallery in Middleburg, Virginia The Byrne Gallery | Middleburg, VA Susan Byrne and Bill Byrne are celebrating their Gallery's 26th anniversary this year in Middleburg with a celebration and exhibition of the vivid oil and enamel paintings of internationally-acclaimed artist Yuri Gorbachev. Art Exhibit
October 01, 2021 to October 01, 2021 Virtual Lecture: Dr. Erika Wolf on Soviet Photography Zimmerli Art Museum | New Brunswick, NJ The Zimmerli welcomes Erika Wolf, presenting a lecture about Soviet photography in print, focusing on the work of women photographers and artists. This event is held in conjunction with the Zimmerli's exhibition "Communism Through the Lens: Everyday Life Captured by Women Photographers in the Dodge Collection." Please register. Lecture
The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas This exciting new trilogy by a Russian author – who has been compared to Orhan Pamuk and Umberto Eco – vividly recreates a lost world, yet its passions and characters are entirely relevant to the present day. Full of mystery, memorable characters, and non-stop adventure, The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas is a must read for lovers of historical fiction and international thrillers.
The Best of Russian Life We culled through 15 years of Russian Life to select readers’ and editors’ favorite stories and biographies for inclusion in a special two-volume collection. Totalling over 1100 pages, these two volumes encompass some of the best writing we have published over the last two decades, and include the most timeless stories and biographies – those that can be read again and again.
The Frogs Who Begged for a Tsar The fables of Ivan Krylov are rich fonts of Russian cultural wisdom and experience – reading and understanding them is vital to grasping the Russian worldview. This new edition of 62 of Krylov’s tales presents them side-by-side in English and Russian. The wonderfully lyrical translations by Lydia Razran Stone are accompanied by original, whimsical color illustrations by Katya Korobkina.
Fish: A History of One Migration This mesmerizing novel from one of Russia’s most important modern authors traces the life journey of a selfless Russian everywoman. In the wake of the Soviet breakup, inexorable forces drag Vera across the breadth of the Russian empire. Facing a relentless onslaught of human and social trials, she swims against the current of life, countering adversity and pain with compassion and hope, in many ways personifying Mother Russia’s torment and resilience amid the Soviet disintegration.
The Moscow Eccentric Advance reviewers are calling this new translation "a coup" and "a remarkable achievement." This rediscovered gem of a novel by one of Russia's finest writers explores some of the thorniest issues of the early twentieth century.
The Spine of Russia This coffee table book is the photographic journal of an epic 6000-kilometer road trip. The book includes over 200 compelling images of Russians and Russian places met along the way, plus a dozen texts (in both English and Russian) on everything from business to education, from roads to fools.
White Magic The thirteen tales in this volume – all written by Russian émigrés, writers who fled their native country in the early twentieth century – contain a fair dose of magic and mysticism, of terror and the supernatural. There are Petersburg revenants, grief-stricken avengers, Lithuanian vampires, flying skeletons, murders and duels, and even a ghostly Edgar Allen Poe.
Woe From Wit (bilingual) One of the most famous works of Russian literature, the four-act comedy in verse Woe from Wit skewers staid, nineteenth century Russian society, and it positively teems with “winged phrases” that are essential colloquialisms for students of Russian and Russian culture.
Murder and the Muse KGB Chief Andropov has tapped Matyushkin to solve a brazen jewel heist from Picasso’s wife at the posh Metropole Hotel. But when the case bleeds over into murder, machinations, and international intrigue, not everyone is eager to see where the clues might lead.
Jews in Service to the Tsar Benjamin Disraeli advised, “Read no history: nothing but biography, for that is life without theory.” With Jews in Service to the Tsar, Lev Berdnikov offers us 28 biographies spanning five centuries of Russian Jewish history, and each portrait opens a new window onto the history of Eastern Europe’s Jews, illuminating dark corners and challenging widely-held conceptions about the role of Jews in Russian history.
Fearful Majesty This acclaimed biography of one of Russia’s most important and tyrannical rulers is not only a rich, readable biography, it is also surprisingly timely, revealing how many of the issues Russia faces today have their roots in Ivan’s reign.
Driving Down Russia's Spine The story of the epic Spine of Russia trip, intertwining fascinating subject profiles with digressions into historical and cultural themes relevant to understanding modern Russia.
November 01, 2020 Tsarina: In the Winter Palace By Ellen Alpsten Catherine I finds herself at a turning point upon the death of her husband, Peter the Great. History Literature
July 01, 2013 The Russian Bees Will Save Us By Paul E. Richardson American bees are dying from mysterious causes, putting our agriculture at risk for lack of pollinators. Russian bees might be part of a solution. Agriculture Environment Science
March 15, 2017 Who Invented the Ancient Slavic Gods, and Why? By Kasya Denisevich How it was that in the eighteenth century Russian mythology was trumped-up in the Western manner? Who wanted it? And where did we get Lel, Yarilo and Zimtserla? We explain everything you'd want to know about Russian fakelore. Culture History Literature Religion
March 17, 2019 When Russian Cuisine Turns Georgian By Tiffany Zhu Why is Georgian food so popular in Russia? Turns out there's more to it than deliciousness. Culture Food & Drink History
March 14, 2020 Coronavirus Coping: Russian Lit has the Answers By The Editors Russian literature has an answer for everything. In the times of coronovirus, this is your guide. Art Literature CVSG
September 01, 2013 Why Russians Don't Run By Paul E. Richardson A tale of two long distance road races – Russia’s oldest and its most prestigious – and what they tell us about the state of running and fitness in Russia. Sports
