Who is the new Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, or Gogol waiting to be discovered by the English-speaking world? Russia’s Open Book: Writing in the Age of Putin, hosted by Stephen Fry, seeks to answer this question.
This documentary gives a fascinating insight into the work of six contemporary Russian authors. Hosted by celebrated writer and actor Stephen Fry, it features interviews with Dmitry Bykov, Mariam Petrosyan, Zakhar Prilepin, Vladimir Sorokin, Anna Starobinets and Ludmila Ulitskaya.
Courtesy of Intelligent Channel, Russia’s Open Book is available to watch in full.
As Stephen Fry wonderfully puts it, “You may think Russian literature is no more than a catalogue of suffering and misery and woe, but actually it’s so much more than that. There’s so much joy, there’s so much hope, there’s so much about the human spirit in it.”
Many books by the writers featured in this film are now available in English translations.
If you would like to discover more about Russian literature, Read Russia was founded in 2012 to celebrate Russian book culture. It runs programs and events to support the English translation and publication of Russian writing.
For more information about Russia’s Open Book: Writing in the Age of Putin visit www.russiasopenbook.com.
