Russia’s Literary Monster: The Wild, Unpredictable World of Vladimir Sorokin

In Europe by Daniel Kalder

A “living classic,” Sorokin pushes boundaries by writing about a Russia rife with violence, coprophilia, violence, rape, violence, aliens, violence, clones and more violence. He makes his American debut in New York this weekend at the PEN World Voices Festival. By Daniel Kalder At the London Book Fair earlier this month, Russia was featured as Guest of Honor. Nearly every Russian …

Sakkadoo: Russia’s Boris Akunin on “The Way of the Writer”

In Author Interview by Daniel Kalder

Russian novelist Grigory Chkhartishvili, a.k.a. Boris Akunin, is an international publishing phenomenon. A scholar of Japanese language and culture, and a former literary translator, he wrote his first novel, The White Queen — starring the now famous literary detective Erast Fandorin — at the age of 40. In the 13 years since its publication, Akunin has sold tens of millions …