January 01, 2023

Why No 2023 Calendar?


Why No 2023 Calendar?
Resistance is not futile. Eugene Sergeev

We have fielded plenty of calls in the past month from customers asking if we were publishing a Russian Life calendar for 2023.

We are not.

We suspect many were calling to confirm their suspicions, since they had not seen any ads. But the interesting thing is that so few have asked why.

Our answer is simple: “because of the war.”

Because, as with our magazine, this is no time to be celebrating Russian culture, landscapes, historical buildings, or beauty.

It is a time to be celebrating those who battle oppression, who stand against the war, the Kremlin, the horrendous laws against free speech, assembly, and a free press. Those who, against the odds, resist.

Resistance comes in many guises. As a friend wrote from Moscow, "while there are many heroes who openly resist Evil, there are also plenty who just stubbornly do their jobs. Not as if nothing was happening, but in spite of what is happening."

To work “professionally, with quality, without lies and exaggerations, and stretching oneself to complete a task – that too is resisting,” they wrote. It is “much easier for those who have stayed behind to do their job because of those who left and are able to speak openly and without censorship. Both are for the same thing.

“Each person does what they can, but they resist… no, not tanks (this we cannot do), but devastation, despondency, entropy, and lies… And it is not in two or three places, but all around us. Look closely, it's everywhere. Kindness, mercy to loved ones, and even courage are often quiet, they do not yell.

“Not everyone is ready to go to prison, but very, very many are ready to defend their dignity, to live without putting their conscience up for sale. Everyone who loves and does not hate, everyone who does not lie, everyone who has not confused white and black, everyone who simply remains human, is practicing this simple thing: resistance to violence and evil.

“And they are growing, growing underground. They are an invisible green grass, a yellow-breasted flower. And one day they break through the asphalt.”

So that is why we did not publish a calendar for 2023. And that is also why we continue to publish Russian Life, to search for and tell the stories of the green grass, of the flowers that will one day break through the asphalt.

It is our hope and prayer that 2023 will be an awakening from the nightmare that was 2022, that Russians will begin to claw back their freedoms and their country (as Ukraine did nearly a decade ago), to once again give us a reason to celebrate Russian culture.


Here, by the way, is a nice calendar of Ukraine, in which all the profits are being sent to Ukrainian relief. And be sure to check out our page with links to support meaningful aid to Ukrainians.

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Some of our Books

Jews in Service to the Tsar
October 09, 2011

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.

Little Golden Calf
February 01, 2010

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.

Bears in the Caviar
May 01, 2015

Bears in the Caviar

Bears in the Caviar is a hilarious and insightful memoir by a diplomat who was “present at the creation” of US-Soviet relations. Charles Thayer headed off to Russia in 1933, calculating that if he could just learn Russian and be on the spot when the US and USSR established relations, he could make himself indispensable and start a career in the foreign service. Remarkably, he pulled it of.

Woe From Wit (bilingual)
June 20, 2017

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.

Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka
November 01, 2012

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 Moscow Eccentric
December 01, 2016

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.

A Taste of Chekhov
December 24, 2022

A Taste of Chekhov

This compact volume is an introduction to the works of Chekhov the master storyteller, via nine stories spanning the last twenty years of his life.

Murder at the Dacha
July 01, 2013

Murder at the Dacha

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin has a problem. Several, actually. Not the least of them is the fact that a powerful Soviet boss has been murdered, and Matyushkin's surly commander has given him an unreasonably short time frame to close the case.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

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