The London Book Fair will take place from April 11 – 16th with a focus on contemporary Russian literature. The lineup includes the presence of 50 of the country’s most prominent writers and literary figures, including the author of the modern classic Pushkin House Andrei Bitov, Ludmila Ulitskaya and Boris Akunin among many others. Paying testament to the recent trend of dystopian novels in Russia audiences will also be able to hear from Dmitry Bykov (Living Souls), Olga Slavnikova (2017) and Dmitry Glukhovsky (Metro 2033).
There will also be a 50th anniversary celebration of Yury Gagarin’s first space flight with, according to the program “a video link with Russian cosmonauts talking about literature in space” (While the popularity of literature might be dwindling here on Earth, it’s nice to know it has other potential markets).
The program is extremely varied, covering every form of writing imaginable, translation issues, etc. There is even a deacon from the Moscow Theological Academy to discuss “Harry Potter and… the Russian Orthodox Church” (the dots are in the program, perhaps for added dramatic effect?).
One event that sounds especially interesting considering the change in status literature has experienced in Russia over the past couple decades is the discussion “Nostalgia for Censorship” and whether there was an excitement to having to write with a censor in mind.
literalab 