July 01, 2009 Gogol 101 By Mikhail Ivanov In which columnist Mikhail Ivanov impresses upon his son the importance of reading Gogol, sharing several important Gogolisms along the way.
May 01, 2009 Singing in the Rain By Mikhail Ivanov Forecasting the weather in Russia is a national sport. And a fertile ground for linguistic growth.
March 01, 2009 825 Yards for Barack By Mikhail Ivanov The financial crisis offers a pretext to return to a consideration of "despicable metal" and how it is influencing Russian speech.
January 01, 2009 Soaping Your Way By Mikhail Ivanov This issue's Survival Russian column looks at the clean (and less than so) metaphors that arise from soap...
November 01, 2008 Mauvaix phone By Mikhail Ivanov Cell phones have introduced some new and challenging lingo to the Russian lexicon.
September 01, 2008 Knees Made for Dancing By Mikhail Ivanov Where we consider the role of knees in the Russian language. Very important, just ask Nikita Sergeyevich...
July 01, 2008 Mustache Wise By Mikhail Ivanov Whenever I "hide a smile in my mustache," a certain old friend from across the ocean feels uneasy and nervous...
May 01, 2008 Far & Away By Mikhail Ivanov A consideration of the many Russia ways to signify the boondocks, the middle-of-nowhere, etc.
March 01, 2008 Two Bears in One Den By Mikhail Ivanov In honor of the rise to power of the bear president (Medvedev), Mikhail Ivanov looks at bearisms in the Russian language.
January 01, 2008 The 25-year Coat By Mikhail Ivanov The acquisition of a shuba for his wife on their 25th anniversary leads Ivanov down a trail littered with fish and tsars...
November 01, 2007 Worms for Snacks By Natasha Dmitrieva Have you ever put your teeth on a shelf? This issue's Survival Russian column looks at the language of hunger...
September 01, 2007 The Best Dandruff Cure By Mikhail Ivanov The language of hair is, well, a bit knotty...
November 04, 2021 to January 07, 2022 Yuri Gorbachev at The Byrne Gallery The Byrne Gallery | Middleburg, VA An 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
November 12, 2021 to December 12, 2021 Stage Russia presents Dmitry Krymov's "Boris" in HD Nationwide | Multiple Cities, A special in cinema presentation of Dmitry Krymov's award-winning production featuring Mikhail Filippov, Viktoriya Isakova, Maria Smolnikova and 2021 Golden Mask Award Winner, Timofey Tribuntsev. Film
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.
Russia Rules From the shores of the White Sea to Moscow and the Northern Caucasus, Russian Rules is a high-speed thriller based on actual events, terrifying possibilities, and some really stupid decisions.
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.
The Spine of Russia This coffee table book is the photographic journal of an epic 6000-kilometer road trip. The book includes over 200 compelling images of Russians and Russian places met along the way, plus a dozen texts (in both English and Russian) on everything from business to education, from roads to fools.
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.
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.
Fish: A History of One Migration This mesmerizing novel from one of Russia’s most important modern authors traces the life journey of a selfless Russian everywoman. In the wake of the Soviet breakup, inexorable forces drag Vera across the breadth of the Russian empire. Facing a relentless onslaught of human and social trials, she swims against the current of life, countering adversity and pain with compassion and hope, in many ways personifying Mother Russia’s torment and resilience amid the Soviet disintegration.
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.
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.
Driving Down Russia's Spine The story of the epic Spine of Russia trip, intertwining fascinating subject profiles with digressions into historical and cultural themes relevant to understanding modern Russia.
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.
The Moscow Eccentric Advance reviewers are calling this new translation "a coup" and "a remarkable achievement." This rediscovered gem of a novel by one of Russia's finest writers explores some of the thorniest issues of the early twentieth century.
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
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
March 20, 2020 Vodka vs. Coronavirus By Margaret Godwin-Jones Russia’s Ministry of Health discussed ways vodka can affect the coronavirus (spoiler alert: not much). Food & Drink Health CVSG Russia File
May 26, 2016 Two Miracles of Russian Love Poetry By Anatoly Liberman On the occasion of Pushkin's birthday, we offer a post on the challenge of translating his most famous love lyrics, "Я вас любил," with a bonus look at Innokenty Annensky's "Среди миров." Literature
September 01, 2013 Why Russians Don't Run By Paul E. Richardson A tale of two long distance road races – Russia’s oldest and its most prestigious – and what they tell us about the state of running and fitness in Russia. Sports
October 31, 2016 Why Stalin's Corpse Was Exhumed on Halloween By Alice E.M. Underwood The body of Joseph Stalin was removed from the mausoleum on Red Square on October 31, 1961. It may not be as spooky as Halloween, but the former leader still haunts Russia today. History Politics Social Issues
