March 25, 2021 Barbies, Oral Health, and Squirrels In this week's Odder News, a new Russian Barbie, Russians need to work on their dental hygiene, and squirrels attack in Vyborg. Animals Art Health Space Women Odder News
March 11, 2021 Waterfowl, Ice-Fishing Cats, and Hermetic Sealing In this week's Odder News, Russia's feathered friends are having their own pandemic, cats are going ice fishing, and the International Space Station is getting old. Animals Internet Space Odder News
January 29, 2021 Think Before You Post The head of Russia's space agency was blocked on Facebook after commenting on a post in support of Navalny. Internet Politics Space Russia File
December 29, 2020 VR-Series from the ISS Roscosmos is partnering with foreign space agencies and film studios to create the world’s biggest VR-series on board the ISS. Film & TV Space Russia File
December 16, 2020 Geography Lessons from Space Russian astronauts on the ISS are preparing for a live lesson that will be broadcast via the Internet. Education Space Russia File
November 13, 2020 Rocket Man Turns Elton John The director of Roscosmos uses the organization's website to distribute his latest hits. Music Science Space Russia File
November 06, 2020 High Schoolers to Make Space Ships for ISS A program centered out of Tomsk is connecting high schoolers with astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Education Space Russia File
October 29, 2020 Insults, Overpriced Benches, and Space Toilets This week, astronauts find some relief, citizens share their shame, and the dangers of sugar may finally be made public. Cities & Towns Food & Drink Government Health Science Space Odder News
October 21, 2020 Life on Mars A Russian astronaut said he believes there is already life on Mars. News Space Russia File
October 02, 2020 Let's Take a Walk... in Space Russian astronauts are preparing for two spacewalks in coming months. News Space Russia File
September 27, 2020 First Artistic Film from Space Russia’s state space agency Roscosmos recently announced plans to shoot the first artistic film from space, despite a similar announcement from NASA earlier. Film & TV Space Russia File
September 24, 2020 It's a Bird, a Plane... nope, a Secret Chinese Spacecraft A Russian radio fan managed to detect data from a secret Chinese spacecraft. News Space Russia File
February 22, 2022 to February 22, 2032 Russian-Language Gallery Tour Brooklyn Museum | Brooklyn, NY Russian-language tour exploring our collection in depth, second Sunday of each month at 1 pm. Free, reservations required Art Exhibit
May 22, 2022 to May 22, 2022 Fundraiser for Refugees from Ukraine Plummer Park | West Hollywood, California A silent auction with items and services from local businesses and communities. Festival
February 28, 2022 to February 23, 2032 Free Russian Language Guided Tours Metropolitan Museum of Art | New York, NY Russian-speaking guides conduct tours of the museum's highlights every Monday at 11 am. Art Exhibit
Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka In this comprehensive, quixotic and addictive book, Edwin Trommelen explores all facets of the Russian obsession with vodka. Peering chiefly through the lenses of history and literature, Trommelen offers up an appropriately complex, rich and bittersweet portrait, based on great respect for Russian culture.
The Latchkey Murders Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin is back on the case in this prequel to the popular mystery Murder at the Dacha, in which a serial killer is on the loose in Khrushchev’s Moscow...
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.
The Little Golden Calf Our edition of The Little Golden Calf, one of the greatest Russian satires ever, is the first new translation of this classic novel in nearly fifty years. It is also the first unabridged, uncensored English translation ever, and is 100% true to the original 1931 serial publication in the Russian journal 30 Dnei. Anne O. Fisher’s translation is copiously annotated, and includes an introduction by Alexandra Ilf, the daughter of one of the book’s two co-authors.
The Little Humpbacked Horse A beloved Russian classic about a resourceful Russian peasant, Vanya, and his miracle-working horse, who together undergo various trials, exploits and adventures at the whim of a laughable tsar, told in rich, narrative poetry.
Survival Russian Survival Russian is an intensely practical guide to conversational, colloquial and culture-rich Russian. It uses humor, current events and thematically-driven essays to deepen readers’ understanding of Russian language and culture. This enlarged Second Edition of Survival Russian includes over 90 essays and illuminates over 2000 invaluable Russian phrases and words.
The Samovar Murders The murder of a poet is always more than a murder. When a famous writer is brutally stabbed on the campus of Moscow’s Lumumba University, the son of a recently deposed African president confesses, and the case assumes political implications that no one wants any part of.
Moscow and Muscovites Vladimir Gilyarovsky's classic portrait of the Russian capital is one of Russians’ most beloved books. Yet it has never before been translated into English. Until now! It is a spectactular verbal pastiche: conversation, from gutter gibberish to the drawing room; oratory, from illiterates to aristocrats; prose, from boilerplate to Tolstoy; poetry, from earthy humor to Pushkin.
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.
Faith & Humor: Notes from Muscovy A book that dares to explore the humanity of priests and pilgrims, saints and sinners, Faith & Humor has been both a runaway bestseller in Russia and the focus of heated controversy – as often happens when a thoughtful writer takes on sacred cows. The stories, aphorisms, anecdotes, dialogues and adventures in this volume comprise an encyclopedia of modern Russian Orthodoxy, and thereby of Russian life.
301 Things Everyone Should Know About Russia How do you begin to get a handle on the world's largest country? This colorful, illustrated guide will get you started...
Maria's War: A Soldier's Autobiography This astonishingly gripping autobiography by the founder of the Russian Women’s Death Battallion in World War I is an eye-opening documentary of life before, during and after the Bolshevik Revolution.
June 22, 2020 Why Invading Russia was Hitler's Downfall June 22, 2020, marks the 79th anniversary of Operation Barbarossa, the Nazi invasion of Russia that changed the course of WWII and, perhaps, history itself. History Social Issues War
March 15, 2017 Who Invented the Ancient Slavic Gods, and Why? 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
January 10, 2014 Why Don't Russians Smile? It is a common trope that Russians never smile. Which of course is interpreted to mean they are unfriendly, gloomy, sullen – positively Dostoyevskian. This, of course, is a complete misreading of body language and cultural norms. Culture Humor Language
May 07, 2015 The Most Useful Russian Inventions What do radio, television, the periodic table, and helicopters have in common? Russians were involved in developing all of them – and more! Reference Science
September 01, 2019 Returning from Afar An excerpt from Benson Bobrick’s new book, a memoir of his life and work as a writer. Memoir Travel
September 01, 2013 Why Russians Don't Run 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