Connections

It seems like just yesterday we were heralding Russian Life’s fiftieth anniversary. And now this fall it turns 55. We at RIS have been stewarding the magazine for the most recent 16 of these 55 years, and I am happy to say there is no end in sight to the fascinating stories we want to tell in these pages.

When we took over the magazine in 1995, we had to drive two hours to check issue proofs printed from film. Now our production process is 100 percent digital (look ma, no film!), and we don’t see a printed copy of the magazine until about the same time as our readers. And Russian Life also comes out in alternate digital formats, including on the Kindle.

While technological advancements – conversing with writers, editors and photographers all over the world through email and Skype – are part of what make this magazine possible, I do feel a bit cheated. Back in 1995, authors would drop into our Moscow offices for a cup of tea; delivery of an article was something of an event. And photographers would hunch over a light table with us, picking out slides to be used with a story. Today, stories arrive as attachments and photographers drop us links to online photo albums. Yes, it is immeasurably more efficient. But it does not seem fair that I rarely get to meet an author or editor face-to-face.

So I was delighted this summer when Nora Favorov, who has translated over 100 articles for our Russian Calendar section over the past five years, finally got to meet face-to-face with Tamara Eidelman, the editor of that section, whom she had previously only met over email and Skype. Nora wrote me of their meeting:

“In typical Tamara fashion she picked a fitting place for a rendezvous between two history buffs – under a mosaic of Lenin proclaiming Soviet power in the Kievskaya metro station. It was very k stati that I was able to hand her The Best of Russian Life, which had many of the articles I’ve so enjoyed translating over the years. We talked very little about work, which is pretty much all we’ve been discussing via email for 5 years now, focusing more on family, vacations, food, etc. She took me to a very nice Georgian restaurant, Khachapuri, where we sat outside enjoying the perfect weather...”

Sixteen years has not changed one important thing: publishing a quality magazine requires quality people. And we have a wealth of such people contributing to this effort – far too many to name. From our several editors, to the hundreds of contributing writers, translators and photographers, to our printer in Missouri, to our Founders and Advisory Boards and our office manager. It is one vast, virtual, astoundingly competent team, and I feel privileged to serve as its manager. Thank you to all.

And now an apology.

Even longer than 16 years ago, while working in Moscow, I happened on the work of Sergei Dovlatov, who was just becoming known to Russians again, as the dark curtain of Soviet censorship lifted. To this day, he remains one of my favorite writers of the Soviet era. I therefore consider it a grave error that we missed his 70th anniversary this September, by which I mean we failed to publish an article on his life and work in this issue. But we have not completely failed. Two of our departments – Uchites and Cuisine – focus on him. And we are publishing one of his stories in our literary quarterly, Chtenia, this fall. Hopefully these will be introduction enough for readers who do not yet know Dovlatov, and will spur them to seek out his superb fiction.

Enjoy the issue.