October 04, 2021 Ageless Youth By Griffin Edwards The new head of Yekaterinburg's youth commission is perhaps a little older than one might expect. Family Government Health Social Issues Russia File
October 04, 2021 Russia in the Time of COVID By The Editors How has Russia changed since the last time you were there, pre-pandemic? Health Int'l Relations Travel
September 05, 2021 Great Grechka! By Haley Bader In May, the Russian Federation temporarily banned the export of grechka, also known as buckwheat, from June 5 to August 31. Culture Food & Drink Health History
August 25, 2021 Throw in the Mayor with the Banya Water By Haley Bader “Today, the city bath house needs support because, due to last year's lengthy six-month shutdown associated with the coronavirus, the banya cannot pull itself out of debt." – Mikhail Valov, Mayor of Sayanogorsk, inviting citizens to save his city’s municipal bathhouse from the economic ravages of the Coronavirus on August 23. Cities & Towns Culture Government Health Quote
August 23, 2021 Biscuithead Sweet-Talks on Safety By Haley Bader In Russia, mascots only get better. Imagine a child cracking a smile not JUST for a man bungling in a hot costume, but for a role model who looks like a beloved teatime treat… Culture Food & Drink Government Health Russia File
August 21, 2021 Recovering from Covid? Bring on the Russian Ballad By Haley Bader A little levity can be good for the Covid blues, and expert Khadizhat Omarova of Russia’s Rospotrebnadzor has given a variety of advice to accelerate recovery. Why not give your lungs a good stretch and practice your folk song, too? Culture Health Music Russia File
August 04, 2021 Tourism in the Time of Covid By Haley Bader “These people do not go to relax in other resorts, they settle in neighboring hotels: the more restrictions are imposed on legal business, the more it plays into the hands of those who work in the dark.” – Natalia Stambulnikova, Chairman of the Association of Small Hotels of Crimea, warning of the ominous nature of coronavirus restrictions that impede tourism. Cities & Towns Government Health Travel Quote
July 27, 2021 Starry-Eyed and Vaccinated By Haley Bader Covid’s got a sun sign, and Russian television personality and astrologer Vasilisa Volodina is out to break the virus some bad news. Film & TV Health Humor Pop Culture Russia File
July 20, 2021 Doses Down the Drain By Griffin Edwards While most Russians aren't known to shy away from free shots (vaccine or otherwise), one administrator is under investigation for selling documents sans immunizations. Cities & Towns Government Health Russia File
July 14, 2021 The Right Dosage By Haley Bader “Sex after administration of the vaccine does not cause any side effects in people of any age. As a matter of fact, sexual activity provides a lot of satisfaction and pleasure. People’s fears go away, as sex 'turns off' the head and relieves stress.” – Sexologist sexologist Andrei Lygachin, refuting the idea that individuals should avoid sex after being vaccinated against COVID-19. Government Health Science Quote
July 13, 2021 Dear Cheese By Alexandra Curtis Is there anything that could make cheese any better than it already is? A new patent in cheese-making with an unusual ingredient is attempting to do just that. Food & Drink Health Science Russia File
July 12, 2021 Cracking the QR Code By Haley Bader In Moscow, a pair of legs with hot red stilettos on one end and a plush purple QR code at the other flounced down a Moscow street and into a restaurant. Government Health Humor Moscow Russia File
September 01, 2021 to October 17, 2021 Communism Through the Lens: Everyday Life Captured by Women Photographers in the Dodge Collection Dodge Wing Lower Level | New Brunswick, NJ Spanning almost the entirety of the Soviet Union's history from the 1920s through the 1990s, this exhibition of rarely seen images explores themes of political art, documentary photography, and gender, offering a historical look at how women photographers interpreted life in the communist state. Art Exhibit
November 01, 2021 to November 30, 2021 Yuri Gorbachev's 18th Annual Exhibition at the Byrne Gallery in Middleburg, Virginia The Byrne Gallery | Middleburg, VA Susan Byrne and Bill Byrne are celebrating their Gallery's 26th anniversary this year in Middleburg with a celebration and exhibition of the vivid oil and enamel paintings of internationally-acclaimed artist Yuri Gorbachev. Art Exhibit
October 15, 2021 to April 03, 2022 Icons for Our Time: Orthodox Art from Around the World Museum of Russian Icons | Clinton, MA Fifteen contemporary icons from fifteen countries explore iconography today. Presented in celebration of the museum's 15th Anniversary. Art Exhibit
October 09, 2021 to October 23, 2021 48th Annual Russian Food Festival, 2021 Holy Trinity Russian Orthodox Church | Baltimore, MD This year we are conducting a scaled-down festival in the parish hall on three consecutive Saturdays in October 2021 to allow for social distancing and for the safety of our guests and volunteers. But don't worry, the food will not be scaled down! Festival
Marooned in Moscow This gripping autobiography plays out against the backdrop of Russia's bloody Civil War, and was one of the first Western eyewitness accounts of life in post-revolutionary Russia. Marooned in Moscow provides a fascinating account of one woman's entry into war-torn Russia in early 1920, first-person impressions of many in the top Soviet leadership, and accounts of the author's increasingly dangerous work as a journalist and spy, to say nothing of her work on behalf of prisoners, her two arrests, and her eventual ten-month-long imprisonment, including in the infamous Lubyanka prison. It is a veritable encyclopedia of life in Russia in the early 1920s.
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.
A Taste of Russia The definitive modern cookbook on Russian cuisine has been totally updated and redesigned in a 30th Anniversary Edition. Layering superbly researched recipes with informative essays on the dishes' rich historical and cultural context, A Taste of Russia includes over 200 recipes on everything from borshch to blini, from Salmon Coulibiac to Beef Stew with Rum, from Marinated Mushrooms to Walnut-honey Filled Pies. A Taste of Russia shows off the best that Russian cooking has to offer. Full of great quotes from Russian literature about Russian food and designed in a convenient wide format that stays open during use.
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 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.
The Little Humpbacked Horse A beloved Russian classic about a resourceful Russian peasant, Vanya, and his miracle-working horse, who together undergo various trials, exploits and adventures at the whim of a laughable tsar, told in rich, narrative poetry.
Faith & Humor: Notes from Muscovy A book that dares to explore the humanity of priests and pilgrims, saints and sinners, Faith & Humor has been both a runaway bestseller in Russia and the focus of heated controversy – as often happens when a thoughtful writer takes on sacred cows. The stories, aphorisms, anecdotes, dialogues and adventures in this volume comprise an encyclopedia of modern Russian Orthodoxy, and thereby of Russian life.
The Frogs Who Begged for a Tsar The fables of Ivan Krylov are rich fonts of Russian cultural wisdom and experience – reading and understanding them is vital to grasping the Russian worldview. This new edition of 62 of Krylov’s tales presents them side-by-side in English and Russian. The wonderfully lyrical translations by Lydia Razran Stone are accompanied by original, whimsical color illustrations by Katya Korobkina.
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.
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.
White Magic The thirteen tales in this volume – all written by Russian émigrés, writers who fled their native country in the early twentieth century – contain a fair dose of magic and mysticism, of terror and the supernatural. There are Petersburg revenants, grief-stricken avengers, Lithuanian vampires, flying skeletons, murders and duels, and even a ghostly Edgar Allen Poe.
Resilience ~ The Russian Version (Переживем) Call it resilience, grit, or just perseverance – it takes a special sort of person to have survived the last 100 years of Russian and Soviet history.
April 06, 2020 A Russian Gift By Mark C. Medish A look at how the Jesuits, Pope Francis, and Georgetown University all share an interesting connection to Russia. History Int'l Relations Religion
December 19, 2016 10 Things (And 5 Jokes) You Didn't Know About Brezhnev By Alice E.M. Underwood Soviet leader Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev would have been 110 on December 19. There are plenty of fun facts and surprising jokes behind the eyebrows. History Humor Politics
July 01, 2013 The Russian Bees Will Save Us By Paul E. Richardson American bees are dying from mysterious causes, putting our agriculture at risk for lack of pollinators. Russian bees might be part of a solution. Agriculture Environment Science
September 01, 2021 Profiles in Courage By Paul E. Richardson It takes something special in a human being to create a thing from scratch, to see a slab of stone and carve it into a sculpture, to see an empty storefront and turn it into a store, to sketch out a multistory building on paper and then shepherd it into existence in the real world. History Journalism
January 10, 2014 Why Don't Russians Smile? By The Editors It is a common trope that Russians never smile. Which of course is interpreted to mean they are unfriendly, gloomy, sullen – positively Dostoyevskian. This, of course, is a complete misreading of body language and cultural norms. Culture Humor Language
June 22, 2020 Why Invading Russia was Hitler's Downfall By Alice E.M. Underwood June 22, 2020, marks the 79th anniversary of Operation Barbarossa, the Nazi invasion of Russia that changed the course of WWII and, perhaps, history itself. History Social Issues War
