Zinaida Tulub's novel The Exile is one of the most brilliant works in the canon of fiction about Taras Shevchenko, the outstanding Ukrainian poet and artist.The idea of writing about Taras Shevchenko first occurred to her when she was in her thirties, during a period spent living in exile in Kazakhstan (1947-1956). Initially, Tulub worked on the screenplay for a film called Kobzar and Yakin, which can be seen as an early prototype for the novel. She was only able to start work on the latter a...

Tien schrijvers en negen kunstenaars over dé vraag die we onszelf allemaal moeten stellen

Als je vandaag zou sterven en één generatie later terugkeert, in welke wereld zou je dan geboren willen worden, ongeacht waar of wie je bent?

Vanuit dit gedachtenexperiment verkennen tien schrijvers en negen kunstenaars de mogelijkheid hun eigen belangen opzij te zetten voor een betere wereld voor volgende generaties. Zij speculeren over een onbekende toekomst waar ze zelf onderdeel van uitmaken.

De ...

Maria Rybakova's Gnedich captures the reader's attention in its first stanzas with a striking allusion to Homeric Greece: "The rage that killed so many/the wretched rage of Achilles/who knew that he would perish/ that he would perish young. This is a novel-in-verse about the first Russian translator of the Iliad, the romantic poet and librarian Nikolai Gnedich (1784-1833). Since Gnedich spent almost his entire life translating Homer's epic poem, Maria Rybakova has chosen verse as the most ap...

A handful of families, several generations, more than a few wars. Moscow, Kabul, Barcelona. Anna Nemzer announces herself on the literary scene boldly and loudly with this debut novel about the insane, unspeakable nature of war, about human fears, treachery, lies, fateful coincidences and destinies during warfare, when there is no room left for love.The protagonists survived the war and are rescued from captivity. They are not able, however, to leave the experiences of the war behind them and...

From the first pages it becomes apparent that Asystole is a novel about love of life in its purest, instinctive and intimate form. It's also a novel about human faith in its existence and a desire to experience this love. Author Oleg Pavlov places his character - a boy who grows to be a man and is clearly personified by the writer's own outlook on life - in impossible and familiar circumstances, impossible not to relate to.An adult is shaped in childhood. Chaotic, anxious and at the same time...

The book sheds light on how Sberbank of Russia was transformed from the old-school institution with outlived Soviet practices into a decent member of the world's financial elite and one of the richest brands on the planet.Sberbank reform was an unprecedented event in the history of Russian business. Never before such a large post-Soviet establishment has undergone such a radical and total reorganization according to western patterns. Initiator of the Sberbank reform in 2007 is the ex-minister...

Over a hundred years ago, something truly outrageous occurred at Yasnaya Polyana. Count Leo Tolstoy, a famous author aged eighty-two at the time, took off, destination unknown. Since then, the circumstances surrounding the writer's whereabouts during his final days and his eventual death have given rise to many myths and legends. In this book, popular Russian writer and reporter Pavel Basinsky delves into the archives and presents his interpretation of the situation prior to Leo Tolstoy's mys...

Maria Konjoekova's Zo gaat dat in Rusland, of hoe te leven tussen Russen is niet alleen een grappige, vol zelfspot geschreven handleiding voor het dagelijks leven in Rusland, het is ook een scherpzinnige en praktische gids voor het doorgronden van een land en van mensen die we vandaag de dag overal ter wereld kunnen tegenkomen.Maria Konjoekova's Zo gaat dat in Rusland, of hoe te leven tussen Russen is niet alleen een grappige, vol zelfspot geschreven handleiding voor het dagelijks leven in Ru...

Towards the end of World War II, a Belarusian soldier and an Italian girl escape from a Nazi concentration camp. The soldier wonders if he should get rid of the girl; she is a burden and is slowing him down. However, he cannot bring himself to abandon her in the snowy wilderness. Somewhere along the way, the two develop feelings for each other, but their love is not destined to grow beyond the edge of the mountains. Yet their bond cannot be denied, and in the end it proves stronger than death...