new awardDuring the 20th Non-/Fiction Book Fair which closed its doors recently in Moscow, Aleksei Slapovski’s novel THE UNKNOWN was elected BEST NOVEL OF THE YEAR 2018 in the annual reader’s survey.
The award was handed over to Slapovski by last year’s winner Guzel Yakhina.
new publicationThe czech translation of Eduard Kochergin’s novel CHRISTENED WITH CROSSES has been published by Albatros Media. It is a true story based on Kochergin’s life.
While the mothers in Siberia wait for their soldier sons to return from the war in the west in 1945, the eight year old Eduard secretly jumps on board the trains heading in the opposite direction, heading west, towards Leningrad, escaping from orphan home to reunite with his mother.
new saleTranslation rights for Oleg Zobern’s fiction novel AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF IESUS CHRIST in the guise of an autobiography have been sold to Koukoutsi/ Greece.
„After a while the reader begins to feel that it is not Zobern, but this Iesus himself who is laughing at our stupidity, our stiffness, our stringency, our superstitions, our cowardice and above all our wish to crucify him again and again.“
JURY NATIONAL BESTSELLER AWARD
new publicationThe first volume of Nik Perumov’s charming young adult series THE ADVENTURES OF MOLLY BLACKWATER has been published in Polish translation by Akurat.
Two subsequent volumes will follow soon.
new salesThe two probably most prominent novels REHEARSALS and BEFORE AND DURING by Vladimir Sharov have been sold to Serbia/ Utopia.
Once Sharov was described as “possibly the most important Russian novelist you may never have heard of.” This is slowly changing now.
Here is a recent article by Lucie Harnish in English about Sharov’s work including short reviews on each and every book.
new salePolish translation rights for Grigori Kanovich’s saga SHTETL ROMANCE about a family in a Jewish Shtetl have been sold to Poland/ Fundacja Pogranicze.
A marvellous family novel, wise and pittoresque on the last 20 years of life in the Eastern European SHTETL. A moving piece of literature of a loss of the Jewish communities.
new saleAfter Mirzakarim Norbekov’s most successful book EXPERIENCE OF A FOOL the agency has sold several consecutive titles to France, Germany, Italy, Poland and Spain.
LIFE WITHOUT PILLS is his 4. book sold to Random House/ Germany.
stories from EkaterinburgAnna Matveeva was born in Ekaterinburg (Sverdlovsk by then) and has been living there since. All her literary works are connected to this town and the region: her several collections of short stories, her novel DYATLOV PASS about a tragic true story that happened in the Ural mountains, and of course her latest novel VERA STENINA’S ENVY where the main heroine is working as a very special art expert in the Ekaterinburg Museum of Fine Arts – being able to feel and hear a painting. If it is fake, there will be no sound.
This museum was one of the sightseeing spots Anna Matveeva showed to me today telling me thousands of interesting stories behind the facades of the capital of the Ural. After a day full of impressions and talks we ended up in the House of Writers where this photo was taken.
new publicationAnna Matveeva’s investigative novel MURDERS OF THE DYATLOV PASS, based on the true story of the famous Dyatlov Pass incident in 1958, has been published in Czech language translation by Akropolis.
from Krasnoyarsk to EkaterinburgFrom Krasnoyarsk traveling on the Transsiberian Railway to Ekaterinburg, I was kind of following the tracks of Roman Senchin. Originally from the Krasnoyarsk region Senchin, after having spent years in Moscow, moved to Ekaterinburg not so long ago where I met him now. As a present I brought him smoked Taimen from the Krasnoyarsk fish market which we shared and enjoyed with Vodka together with other Ekaterinburg intellectuals at the House of Writers (photo).
The first novel that made him famous also abroad was MINUS (after the Siberian town Minusinsk, Krasnoyarsk region). In his latest novel RAIN IN PARIS the hero in his midlife crisis finally decides to visit Paris, the city of his dreams. But being there he hardly leaves his hotel room getting stuck in memories about his past life far back home in Siberia.