Estlitfest: Russia And Russian Literature Beyond Its Borders

(This is a past event and is no longer running)

Provocation: Which Russia? Andrei Ivanov in conversation

EstLitFest welcomes the unique perspective of Andrei Ivanov, a writer who sees himself as part of the Russian literary tradition but identifies with Estonia as his home country and creative point of departure. Ivanov will be in conversation with the bilingual British author Zinovy Zinik, who also still writes in Russian. They will discuss Russia and how the country’s literature is alive and reflected beyond its official political borders.

Andrei Ivanov is inspired by his Russian and Estonian identity. After graduating from Tallinn University, where he wrote his thesis on the language of Vladimir Nabokov, Ivanov moved to Scandinavia and explored Denmark for a number of years, studied several languages, and wrote his first novel. Hanuman’s Journey to Lolland was shortlisted for the Russian Booker Prize and won the Cultural Endowment of Estonia’s Prize for Russian-Language Literature.

Zinovy Zinik is a Moscow-born bilingual author who has lived in London since 1976. Among his fourteen books of prose, translated into a number of European languages, his novel THE MUSHROOM PICKER was made into a film by BBC television (1993). His comic thriller SOUNDS FAMILIAR or THE BEAST OF ARTEK (2016)  was recently published by Divus London. He is a regular contributor to the pages of The Times Literary Supplement and other periodicals, as well as to BBC radio. Zinik is also the UK Editor of the satirical magazine Artenol.