PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELLED

We are sorry to announce that, unfortunately, the visit of young Russian writers – the Debut Prize winners to Cambridge on Saturday 20th April has been cancelled. The Debut Project is closing its international programme due to a sudden insolvency of their sponsor. The writers will come to London for a short while, but will be unable to visit Cambridge due to the limited time and finances.

Here is their programme during the London Book Fair:

14 April, Sunday
14.00 – 16.00  Waterstone, Russian section.
“Live Fast, Write Young: Memoirs about Growing Up Quickly in Volatile Times”

15 April, Monday
19.00 – 21.00 Pushkin House
“Women’s writing and the theme of the disabled in new Russian writing”
Readings from the new translations of Debut winners.

London Book Fair
15-17 April , Monday – Wednesday
15.30 – 16.30 at the collective Russian stand Y455
“Today’s Russia as Seen by its Young Authors”
Readings from the new translations of Debut winners.

17 April, Wednesday
19.00 – 21.00 – European Bookshop
“Rising Stars of New Russian Writing”
Readings from the new translations of Debut winners.

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Please come to meet “The Rising Stars of Russian Writing” in Cambridge on Saturday, 20th April.
Three young Russian Writers -  winners of the “Debut” prize in 2012: Irina Bogatyreva, Olga Rimsha and Alexander Snegirev will be coming to Cambridge to talk about their works and inspirations.

Presented by Natalia Perova – the publisher of contemporary Russian literature in English, Arch Tait – the English literary translator of their works and Yelena Karl – Cambridge Russian Book Club (CamRuSS).

Olga Rimsha (born in 1988) lives in Novosibirsk (Siberia) and works as a literary editor. Her short novel Still Waters won the Debut Prize in 2010. She describes her prose as “pessimistic optimism”.

Irina Bogatyreva was born in 1982 in Kazan (Tatarstan) and grew up on the Volga. In 2005 she graduated from the Literary Institute in Moscow. Today she is widely published in the leading literary magazines, and in 2008 her first novel, AutoSTOP (published in English as “Off the Beaten Track”) was the finalist of the Debut Prize, and also won the Eureka, Ilya-prize, and the prize of the Oktyabr magazine. She has several books to her credit, all on the most topical Russian problems today. Her recent novel Comrade Anna was short-listed for the Belkin Prize.

Alexander Snegirev, born in 1980 in Moscow, has a degree in Political Science but currently works in construction design.
Winner of the Debut Prize for his collected stories Russian Rhymes (2005). His short novel “How We Bombed America” won the Crown Prize of the Writers’ Union in 2007. In 2009, “Petroleum Venus” was shortlisted for the National Bestseller Prize, nominated for the Russian Booker, and was on the OZON.RU bestseller list for a year. His next novel, “Vanity”, was named the best book of 2010. His story “Don’t be Afraid, Girl” came out in German in the series “Junge russische Literatur” (Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag). The story “D.R.” was published in English in “Rasskazy”. (Tin House Books, 2009)

Limited to writers under 35, the Debut Prize, founded in 2000, receives some 50,000 submissions annually from all corners of Russia. The winners form a new generation of rising literary stars who are transforming the Russian literary landscape. Readers in the West are little aware of how crucial this phenomenon is in the culture, and life itself in Russia. For this generation the Soviet Union is a part of history rather than a part of their life. They have an entirely new set of hopes, worries, experiences, interests and concerns. Take this special opportunity to learn about how Russia is changing and what it is likely to become!

“The Debut tries to gather the best we have in Russia.” - Novaya Gazeta

“A prestigious literary prize considered one of the most respected in Russia, on a par with the Booker.” — Argumenty i Fakty

“From its inception the “Debut” has been the most popular and representative of prizes, not unlike a literary census of hidden talents.” — The New Times

We are delighted to invite you to join us for an evening with Mikhail Segal, an acclaimed contemporary Russian film director, clip-maker, poet and writer, who will be coming to Cambridge this SUNDAY for one evening only!

Mikhail Segal is the director of the renowned film “Franz+Polina”, the director of the film “Short Stories” & the author of the eponymous book among other films and books. His works have been winning the hearts of Russians around the world with their refined psychological descriptions, subtle irony and philosophical views on contemporary life in Russia.

Mikhail will read his short stories and recite poems, and will answer your questions about his art, life and filming experiences in Russia, as well as anything else you would like to ask him.

WHEN: Sunday,  24th March, 5pm
WHERE: St. John’s College Boys Smith Room* (Fisher Bld, 2nd floor) St Johns St, Cambridge CB2 1TP
ENTRANCE: £3 (concessions), £1 (for CamRuSS and CURs members)
LANGUAGE: Russian

Mikhail Segal - film director, clip maker, writer (born in 1974 in Oryol, Russia).
His directing career began with the shooting of the music video clips. In 2007, his video of the song “Say” by the group “Spleen” was a winner at the MTV Russian Music Awards ceremony.

In 2006, his first feature film «Franz + Polina» based on the story by A. Adamovich was presented at the XXVIII Moscow International Film Festival, and it received recognition at many other festivals in Russia and abroad.
In 2010, his first book of prose, “Youth”, which included the eponymous novel and other short stories was published.

In 2011, a film based on one of his short stories “The World of Fasteners” won the Grand Prix of the “KINOTAVR” Festival  in the “short film” category.

In 2012, the feature film “Short Stories” won the “KINOTAVR” Festival prize for the best scenario, and it has been widely shown in Russia. This film took part in a series of international festivals and won numerous awards and recognition from the public. At the same time the film “Short Stories” came out, the  “Short Stories” book  was also published. While sharing the same title, it only contained two novels from the film, and the rest of the stories were original works.

This Sunday in Cambridge, there will be an extraordinary opportunity to hear some of the original stories by the author.

Organised by CamRuSS and CURS

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Last Sunday Cambridge welcomed the Russian film director and writer Mikhail Segal with blistery wind, snow and temperature below 0С. But the atmosphere in the St. John’s Boys Smith Room was very warm.

Those 25 brave souls who made it to the meeting despite the cold weather listened to Mikhail’s reading of his latest short story called “Something Happened” and his singing. This time we had a glimpse into only the writer’s side of Segal. Mikhail could not answer our questions about his prize-winning film “Short Stories”, but he promised to return and tell us more about his film-making in the future.

Watch this space for announcement of possibly film-showing with Q&As in the future.
If you can help us with organising film-showing please contact us at events@camruss.com

The photos (courtesy of Olga Borisova) from the last week Evening with Mikhail Segal are available for viewing on line:

http://www.photobox.co.uk/my/album?album_id=1823944215
or here:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Cambridge-Russian-Speaking-Society/154107367977658

Saturday, 16th February 2013, 6:30pm
The Box Café, 47 Norfolk Street, Cambridge CB1 2LD
Map: http://www.independent-cambridge.co.uk/directory/the-box-cafe.htm

This event was devoted to the 75th anniversary since Vladimir Vysotsky’s birth (which occurred on 25th January 2013).

We had a friendly and informal get-together. The café had a warm and cosy ambience, and served authentic Turkish meze, with wine and soft drinks. The whole place was reserved for CamRuSS on the night.

We sang Vysotsky’s songs to the guitar, and talked about his life, his work, and what he means to us today.

Many thanks to everyone who participated in this evening, sang, played the guitar, and shared their warmth, thoughts and feelings with the rest of us!

P.S. The photos from this evening can be viewed at https://plus.google.com/photos/107798462667579617237/albums/5863150246286495841?authkey=CInN8q2a7bfXKg

Kitty Hunter Blair (Stidworthy) will explore seven poems recited in the films ”Mirror”, “Stalker” and “Nostalghia” – with her translations into English, and extracts from the films.

FRIDAY, 1st MARCH 2013, 7pm
Venue: Room LAB-006, Lord Ashcroft Building, Anglia Ruskin University, East Road, Cambridge CB1 1PT

Entrance from Broad Street, which can be seen on the very top of this map: Map of the ARU Cambridge Campus.

(Anglia Ruskin University on East Road is labelled with a crimson blob on this map of Cambridge city centre.)

ABOUT THE SPEAKER: Kitty Hunter Blair has translated into English Andrei Tarkovsky’s “Sculpting in Time”, his “Diaries”, and the kinoroman “Andrei Rublёv”. For several years she has been translating selected poems by Arsenii Tarkovsky, to be published next year by Tate Publishing, with an introduction on the artistic kinship between father and son, and notes on the poems.

For many years Kitty Stidworthy taught Russian at the Slavonic Department of Cambridge University.

Entrance: CamRuSS and ARU members free, £3 adults, £1 students.
Refreshments (wine, juice and nibbles) will ve served.
Everyone is welcome!

The details of the Old New Year Party:
Sunday 13th January 2012, 4:30pm
St.Paul’s Centre, Hills Rd, Cambridge CB2 1JP
(Entrance from St.Paul’s Street; FREE PARKING on St.Paul’s Street.)

ENTRANCE: CamRuSS members – £2; non-members – £5; all children free (under 16 y.o.).

PROGRAMME:
16:30 – Doors open; free drinks and snacks at the entrance;
17:00 – Greeting by the “MYSTERY HOSTS”;
17:10 – “The Bird of Happiness of Tomorrow”: the acclaimed Children’s Dance Ensemble from the Cambridge Russian School, directed by Yulia Simon-Neale;
17:20 – Historical Puzzles for children and adults, run by journalist and historian Tatiana Dietrich;
17:30 – “The Broken Diamonds” (Gypsy/Folk Russian & Ukrainian songs and dances + live music from favourite Russian films);
18:00 – FOOD and DRINK;
18:30 – Raffle, run by our very own DED MOROZ & SNEGUROCHKA (a.k.a. Father Frost and the Snowmaiden);
19:00 – Topical QUIZ, run in teams, with tasty prizes;
19:30 – “The Broken Diamonds” will play for us again;
20:00 -  RUSSIAN DISCO, with our very special DJ Michael Lukin;
21:30 – Collective effort to make the place clean and tidy again.

Everyone is very welcome.
Queries: info@camruss.com or 0781 510 1481 (Tanya)

Photographs from the party can be viewed here: https://picasaweb.google.com/106072529415643618322/OldRusNY2013?authuser=0& authkey=Gv1sRgCPf0xuGE8OTLWQ&feat=directlink