January 01, 2020 Documentarian of the North By Paul E. Richardson He was a talented artist but an even more gifted itinerate photographer. What he captured 120 years ago is remarkable. Art Photography Rural Life
December 28, 2019 Russians on Oscar Shortlists By Maria Antonova Three Russian films have been shortlisted for the Oscars this year, in three different categories. Some critics say it is unprecedented and a sign the country's creative industry is on the upturn. Art Culture Film & TV St. Petersburg
December 09, 2019 Piter's People – Kseniya Schastlivtseva By Elena Bobrova Kseniya is an architect, who found her passion in jewelry making. Architecture Art St. Petersburg Piter's People
November 19, 2019 (Don't!) Touch for Good Luck By Maria Antonova Urban legends and superstitions made some sculptures in Moscow and St. Petersburg too famous for their own good, and some culture officials have had enough. Art Culture St. Petersburg Travel
October 28, 2019 Velimir Khlebnikov: Innovating 100 Years Before Silicon Valley By Tiffany Zhu Happy birthday to Velimir Khlebnikov, Futurist poet, avant-gardist, and developer of an algorithm to predict the future. Art Biographies Literature
October 12, 2019 Poems for a Golden Autumn By Tiffany Zhu Autumn is colder and darker than summer, but is it really that depressing? Classic poets and rock musicians weigh in. Art Literature Music
September 10, 2019 Cover Story By Asya Lisina Asya Lisina created a beautiful and somewhat surprising cover for the current issue of Russian Life. We asked her to explain herself... Art Military Politics
August 18, 2019 The Enigmatic Horseman By Tiffany Zhu Petersburg’s most famous statue raises as many questions as it answers. Art Literature St. Petersburg
August 10, 2019 When Artists Get on Board with Russian Protest By Maria Antonova As opposition protests rock Moscow, we look at how contemporary artists have interpreted the actions of Russia's riot police. Art Media Music Politics Pop Culture
July 25, 2019 A Cross Wrapped in a Card, Inside a Khinkali By Tiffany Zhu In which Communists hate Georgian food, a cross is accidentally paved over, and the King of Spades rules Russia. Art Food & Drink Politics The Weekly Russia File
July 01, 2019 Siberia's Primordial Colors By Ivan Kobilyakov A journalist meets a painter in the distant outback of Siberia. They share a love for the untamed wilderness, and we learn a thing or two about the challenges of painting in the wild. Art Government Regions
June 29, 2019 The Surreal Among Us By Paul E. Richardson An interview with St. Petersburg photographer Viktor Mogilat, about his thought provoking art. Art Photography St. Petersburg
May 01, 2021 to May 31, 2021 20th Annual Russian Arts and Culture Festival Virtual | N/A, N/A The City of West Hollywood administration invites everyone to join a virtual celebration of Russian Arts and Culture this May. An array of musical events, activities for kids, workshops, virtual tours, concerts, contests, interviews with interesting people, and much more will comprise a month-long celebration. The program of our events will be published on the website of the festival and in the Facebook group. Festival
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.
Maria's War: A Soldier's Autobiography This astonishingly gripping autobiography by the founder of the Russian Women’s Death Battallion in World War I is an eye-opening documentary of life before, during and after the Bolshevik Revolution.
The Samovar Murders The murder of a poet is always more than a murder. When a famous writer is brutally stabbed on the campus of Moscow’s Lumumba University, the son of a recently deposed African president confesses, and the case assumes political implications that no one wants any part of.
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.
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.
Resilience: Life Stories of Centenarians Born in the Year of Revolution 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.
Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka In this comprehensive, quixotic and addictive book, Edwin Trommelen explores all facets of the Russian obsession with vodka. Peering chiefly through the lenses of history and literature, Trommelen offers up an appropriately complex, rich and bittersweet portrait, based on great respect for Russian culture.
Fearful Majesty This acclaimed biography of one of Russia’s most important and tyrannical rulers is not only a rich, readable biography, it is also surprisingly timely, revealing how many of the issues Russia faces today have their roots in Ivan’s reign.
Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices Stargorod is a mid-sized provincial city that exists only in Russian metaphorical space. It has its roots in Gogol, and Ilf and Petrov, and is a place far from Moscow, but close to Russian hearts. It is a place of mystery and normality, of provincial innocence and Black Earth wisdom. Strange, inexplicable things happen in Stargorod. So do good things. And bad things. A lot like life everywhere, one might say. Only with a heavy dose of vodka, longing and mystery.
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.
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.
301 Things Everyone Should Know About Russia How do you begin to get a handle on the world's largest country? This colorful, illustrated guide will get you started...
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
October 14, 2016 Five Wild Facts about St. Basil's Cathedral By Alice E.M. Underwood On October 14, 1991, St. Basil’s Cathedral was reopened after six decades. Here are five fun facts in honor of the 25th anniversary of the Cathedral’s rebirth. Culture History Religion
March 15, 2017 Who Invented the Ancient Slavic Gods, and Why? By Kasya Denisevich How it was that in the eighteenth century Russian mythology was trumped-up in the Western manner? Who wanted it? And where did we get Lel, Yarilo and Zimtserla? We explain everything you'd want to know about Russian fakelore. Culture History Literature Religion
November 01, 2020 Tsarina: In the Winter Palace By Ellen Alpsten Catherine I finds herself at a turning point upon the death of her husband, Peter the Great. History Literature
March 17, 2019 When Russian Cuisine Turns Georgian By Tiffany Zhu Why is Georgian food so popular in Russia? Turns out there's more to it than deliciousness. Culture Food & Drink History
May 07, 2015 The Most Useful Russian Inventions By Eugenia Sokolskaya What do radio, television, the periodic table, and helicopters have in common? Russians were involved in developing all of them – and more! Reference Science
