Russian Calendar

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Vladimir Voynovich
September 01, 2002

Vladimir Voynovich

September 26 is the 70th birthday of Vladimir Voinovich (born 1932), one of the most influential dissident writers of the late Soviet era.

Gymnastic Superstar
September 01, 2002

Gymnastic Superstar

Gymnast Lyudmila Turishcheva was born on October 7, 1952—50 years ago. Turishcheva won every imaginable title in gymnastics, both on the world stage and nationally.

Influential Comic Voice
September 01, 2002

Influential Comic Voice

Actor Anatoly Papanov (1922-1987) would have turned 80 on October 31. Generations of Russian children associate his voice with that of the Wolf in the popular cartoon Nu Pogodi!  (“You just wait!”).

Gourmand Humorist
September 01, 2002

Gourmand Humorist

October 20 is the centenary of the birth of Mikhail Yanshin (1902-1976), a member of the “second wave” of MKhAT theater actors who made their debut when Konstantin Stanislavsky was director there.

The Russian Bear of Wrestling
September 01, 2002

The Russian Bear of Wrestling

September 16th is the 65th birthday of the aptly-named champion in free wrestling, Alexander Medved (medved means “bear” in Russian).

Staring at the World With an Ironic Gaze
July 01, 2002

Staring at the World With an Ironic Gaze

On August 20, Vassily Aksyonov turns 70. The son of party leader Pavel Aksyonov and author Yevgeniya Ginsburg (Into the Whirlwind), Aksyonov spent part of his childhood in Magadan, where his mother was incarcerated.

A Remarkable Dissident
July 01, 2002

A Remarkable Dissident

July 1 would have been the 95th birthday of writer and poet Varlam Shalamov (1907-1982). Shalamov’s talented and revealing prose only saw the light of day six years after his death, when glasnost led to the publication of previously suppressed writers.

Russian Calendar
July 01, 2002

Russian Calendar

This month's section features longer profiles of David Burlyuk, Oleg Protopopov, Sergei Lemeshev, Sofia Rotaru, Vassily Aksyonov and Varlam Shalamov.
The Actor Who Can Do it All
May 01, 2002

The Actor Who Can Do it All

Russia’s most renowned living actor, Alexander Kalyagin, was born on May 25, 1942. He is also presently chairman of the Union of Theater Workers of Russia (in his second term).

Musical Poet of the 60s
May 01, 2002

Musical Poet of the 60s

Poet Robert Rozhdestvensky (1932-1994), a cult figure of Soviet and Russian poetry, would have been 70 years old on June 20.

Philosophical Writer
May 01, 2002

Philosophical Writer

Sixty-five years ago, on May 27, 1937, the writer Andrei Bitov was born in Leningrad. Widely considered one of the best Soviet writers of the 1960s, Bitov came to literature the hard way.

 

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Roma Rhapsody
June 15, 2024

Roma Rhapsody

Capital One Hall | Tysons, Virginia

The Washington Balalaika Society Orchestra's Spring Concert, Roma Rhapsody, will be at 7:30 pm on Saturday June 15, 2024.

Songs of Faith, Love and Delight! June 8
June 08, 2024

Songs of Faith, Love and Delight! June 8

First Congregational Church | Palo Alto, California

San Francisco's Slavyanka Chorus invites you to a concert featuring a colorful tapestry of folk songs and sacred hymns by renowned women composers.

Songs of Faith, Love and Delight! June 9
June 09, 2024

Songs of Faith, Love and Delight! June 9

Star of the Sea Church | San Francisco, California

San Francisco's Slavyanka Chorus invites you to a concert featuring a colorful tapestry of folk songs and sacred hymns by renowned women composers.

Songs of Faith, Love and Delight! June 7
June 07, 2024

Songs of Faith, Love and Delight! June 7

St. Mark's Episcopal Church | Berkeley, California

San Francisco's Slavyanka Chorus invites you to a concert featuring a colorful tapestry of folk songs and sacred hymns by renowned women composers.

A Few of Our Books

The Samovar Murders

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.
93 Untranslatable Russian Words

93 Untranslatable Russian Words

Every language has concepts, ideas, words and idioms that are nearly impossible to translate into another language. This book looks at nearly 100 such Russian words and offers paths to their understanding and translation by way of examples from literature and everyday life. Difficult to translate words and concepts are introduced with dictionary definitions, then elucidated with citations from literature, speech and prose, helping the student of Russian comprehend the word/concept in context.
22 Russian Crosswords

22 Russian Crosswords

Test your knowledge of the Russian language, Russian history and society with these 22 challenging puzzles taken from the pages of Russian Life magazine. Most all the clues are in English, but you must fill in the answers in Russian. If you get stumped, of course all the puzzles have answers printed at the back of the book.
The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas

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.  
Moscow and Muscovites

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. 
Survival Russian

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 Latchkey Murders

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...
Life Stories: Original Fiction By Russian Authors

Life Stories: Original Fiction By Russian Authors

The Life Stories collection is a nice introduction to contemporary Russian fiction: many of the 19 authors featured here have won major Russian literary prizes and/or become bestsellers. These are life-affirming stories of love, family, hope, rebirth, mystery and imagination, masterfully translated by some of the best Russian-English translators working today. The selections reassert the power of Russian literature to affect readers of all cultures in profound and lasting ways. Best of all, 100% of the profits from the sale of this book are going to benefit Russian hospice—not-for-profit care for fellow human beings who are nearing the end of their own life stories.
At the Circus

At the Circus

This wonderful novella by Alexander Kuprin tells the story of the wrestler Arbuzov and his battle against a renowned American wrestler. Rich in detail and characterization, At the Circus brims with excitement and life. You can smell the sawdust in the big top, see the vivid and colorful characters, sense the tension build as Arbuzov readies to face off against the American.
Steppe / Степь

Steppe / Степь

This is the work that made Chekhov, launching his career as a writer and playwright of national and international renown. Retranslated and updated, this new bilingual edition is a super way to improve your Russian.

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