September 10, 2019

Cover Story


Cover Story

Readers have been asking us about Asya Lisina’s “powerful” illustration, which graces the cover of the September/October issue of Russian Life. It shows seven “siloviki” enjoying a beautiful fall day in a Russian park. We asked Asya to offer some insight into her creative process…

The brief for designing the cover of this issue was to illustrate fall in Russia. This is a rather broad and rich theme that includes everything from the beauty of nature at this time of year to our national symbols: historical personalities, typical situations, cultural events, animals, babushkas. In general, given such broad parameters, there was plenty of room for fantasy.

What I really wanted to do was find a subject that presented a surprising contrast, and so I decided to create a pastoral image – something that might have been described by Bunin or Turgenev – and insert into it another popular symbol of our culture: Siloviki.

As it turns out, this creative decision coincided with events that were unfolding in Russia at the time I was working on the illustration: meetings, protests, the garish detention of a famous journalist, investigations of corruption, arrests of independent candidates for the Moscow Duma, and the endless stream of media reports about clashes between the public and representatives of the Powers that Be.

The Siloviki are often associated not so much with security, as with an inexorable threat. So I decided to use humor to lower my own anxiety level, in order to show that even the most ominous of individuals can be capable of tenderness. I am convinced that there can be people of wildly differing views and characters in any profession, quite independent of their political views.

Yet, in my opinion, I don’t feel I succeeded in debunking the stereotype of the typical Silovik. Because the policeman shedding a tear over the fate of Jane Eyre frightens me far more than if this fellow were in an environment where we are more accustomed to seeing him.

Here is Asya's Instagram post, that includes a super cool time lapse showing her work process:

Lisina will be designing the next cover of Russian Life as well. Her brief on that issue is no less broad: Winter.

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Some of Our Books

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Steppe / Степь (bilingual)

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Faith & Humor: Notes from Muscovy

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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.
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Fearful Majesty

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Bears in the Caviar
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Bears in the Caviar

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Murder at the Dacha
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Murder at the Dacha

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin has a problem. Several, actually. Not the least of them is the fact that a powerful Soviet boss has been murdered, and Matyushkin's surly commander has given him an unreasonably short time frame to close the case.

93 Untranslatable Russian Words
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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.

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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.

How Russia Got That Way
September 20, 2025

How Russia Got That Way

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Fish
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Fish

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.

Steppe
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This is the work that made Chekhov, launching his career as a writer and playwright of national and international renown. Retranslated and updated, this new bilingual edition is a super way to improve your Russian.

The Moscow Eccentric
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Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

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