July 13, 2015 The Tower of (Isaac) Babel July 13 is the anniversary of Isaac Babel's birth. Now celebrated as one of teh great writers of the twentieth century, he had a very difficult time gaining acceptance during his lifetime, and repeatedly suffered from antisemitism, official and otherwise. History Literature
July 01, 2015 War and Peace: 7 Fun Facts By Eugenia Sokolskaya How many characters are in Tolstoy's War and Peace? Could it have been any shorter? Did Tolstoy himself love it or hate it? Find out the answers to these – and more! – questions in this quick list of little-known War and Peace facts. History Literature
July 01, 2015 The Latchkey Murders Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin is back on the case in this prequel to the popular mystery Murder at the Dacha, in which a serial killer is on the loose in Khrushchev’s Moscow... Literature Fiction
March 01, 2015 The Stray Dog Cabaret By Tamara Eidelman A look back at the end of St. Petersburg's avant garde hangout for poets and bohemians. Literature
March 01, 2015 Yuri Nagibin By Tamara Eidelman The writer Yuri Nagibin led an incredibly hard life, although, by Soviet standards, from the outside his life may have looked charmed. Literature
January 31, 2015 An Amazing Ride! By Paul E. Richardson We have just finished our 45-day Kickstarter project for the book Red Star Tales, and we are speechless. Almost. Literature
January 01, 2015 Pushkin and Derzhavin By Tamara Eidelman On January 8, 1815 was the monumental "meeting" of Alexander Pushkin and Gavrila Derzhavin, the greatest poets of their respective generations. History Literature
January 01, 2015 A Deluge of Images and Feelings By Tamara Eidelman Boris Pasternak was born 125 years ago. We look back at how he has been remembered. Literature
December 23, 2014 Yolka By Mikhail Zoshchenko As a special gift, we share a somewhat untypical holiday story, reprinted from the pages of Chtenia, by the master humorist and short story writer Mikhail Zoshchenko. Holidays Humor Literature
September 30, 2014 Pasternak: A Great Translator Reflects on Translation By Eugenia Sokolskaya In honor of the International Day of the Translator, a few words from Boris Pasternak, the Russian voice of Shakespeare, on translating and the power of English. Literature
September 01, 2014 In Pushkin's Shadow By Lev Sobolev Mikhail Lermontov, whom many consider Russia‘s second greatest poet, was born 200 years ago. We consider the enduring mysteries of his philosophy and work. Literature
July 18, 2014 Parley with a Gangster By Alexei Bayer A second sample from Alexei Bayer's mystery novel Murder at the Dacha. Here, inspector Pavel Matushkin redeems a favor to get some information from a gangster. History Literature