Guzel Yakhina and Lisa Hayden – Waterstones Piccadilly

16th January, 2019

Guzel Yakhina, one of Russia’s most exciting new talents, will be joining us to discuss Zuleikha – her multi-award winning novel inspired by the memories of her grandmother’s exile to Siberia – along with the novel’s translator, Lisa Hayden.

 

Set amid the spiralling political terror of the 1930s Soviet Union, a young Tartar woman is sentenced to a prison sentence in Siberia, where she learns the necessity of forging a new identity in order to survive. A modern work of lagernaya literature (gulag literature), Guzel Yakhina’s novel has been a bestseller in Russia, revealing a continuing interest in the topic of Soviet repression.

Guzel and Lisa will be in conversation with cultural historian and BBC broadcaster Alexander Kan about the novel, and the ongoing debate over accepting or disowning this aspect of Russia’s past.

 

This event is organised with the support of the Boris Yeltsin Presidential Centre and the Institute for Literary Translation as part of the Read Russian programme at London Book Fair 2019.

 

The event will be held in English.

Tickets are available via https://billetto.co.uk/e/evening-with-guzel-yakhina-tickets-332319