SLOVO: Russian Literature Festival, London, Apr 16-20

As the establishment of the Russian Bookshop in London shows, Russian literature is increasingly international, both in audience and content. Russian writers remain the most eloquent interpreters of a country riven by contrasts and paradoxes. Academia Rossica invites you to come and hear the best Russian writers discuss their work, and its place in the world, at the SLOVO Russian Literature Festival. 

Participating writers: Boris Akunin, Zakhar Prilepin, Olga Slavnikova, Alexander Kabakov, Alex Dubas
All events with English translation

PROGRAMME OF EVENTS
16 - 20 April 2012, London


SPY / ШПИОН
UK film premiere presented by Boris Akunin
Monday, 16 April, 8.30 pm, 
Apollo Cinema Piccadilly, London
Boris Akunin will present the new screen adaptation of his own book The Spy Thriller. Featuring an all-star cast, which includes Fyodor Bondarchuk, Vladimir Yepifantsev and Danila Kozlovsky, Spy is the latest and most ambitious Akunin work to be adapted for the big screen, with Akunin himself writing the script. Set in Moscow in the run up to the outbreak of war in 1941, the film chronicles the intrigues between the elusive spies of the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany.


CONFRONTING CONTRADICTION
A series of talks with Russian Writers 
All events will take place at 7.00pm in the Simpson Room at Waterstones Piccadilly
203-206 Piccadilly, London W1J 9LE
Tickets £3 - Available from the Russian Bookshop at Waterstones, on 020 7851 2419 or by emailing events@piccadilly.waterstones.co.uk
Book signing available at all events!


ALEX DUBAS
The Rules of Aquastop. An independent look at Russia: From the inside and outside
Monday 16 April, 7.00pm
Does independent journalism exist in Russia? What unites Russian and British humour? Why does Moscow continue to fascinate so many from abroad? Alex Dubas, acclaimed journalist, TV and radio presenter and now writer, talks about his new book and much more.


BORIS AKUNIN
The Power of Mysteries and the Mysteries of Power
Tuesday 17 April, 7.00pm
Boris Akunin is the creator of a literary phenomenon—super-detective Erast Fandorin—whose adventures have won Akunin an army of readers both in Russia and abroad. Akunin’s importance, however, extends beyond numbers: a true man of letters, he brings a keen intelligence to all his projects, including, in recent times his outspoken intervention in politics.  Join him to discuss his work and wide-ranging interests, and get your books signed.


ZAKHAR PRILEPIN & JAMES JONES
Young in Russia
Wednesday 18 April, 7.00pm
Zakhar Prilepin is one of Russia’s most exciting young writers, as famous for his outspoken opposition politics as his stellar, prize-winning literary career. His novel Sankya depicts the involvement of an impressionable provincial youth in a revolutionary political movement. He will be joined in a discussion on the role of politics in the lives of younger Russians by James Jones, director of Vlad’s Army, a Channel 4 documentary about pro-Kremlin youth movement, Nashi.


ALEXANDER KABAKOV & RACHEL POLONSKY
Cultures of Dissent, Cultures of Control
Friday 20 April, 7.00pm 
Alexander Kabakov, much-garlanded Russian author and journalist, whose early works explored the lives of the intelligentsia under oppression, will discuss the role of politics in culture, and culture in politics with Cambridge don Rachel Polonsky, author Molotov’s Magic Lantern a study of the reading habits of the notorious Politburo member. 
 http://academia-rossica.org/index.php?id=1420