Read Russia will hold its first annual Russian Literature Week from Monday, December 1, to Friday, December 5 in New York City. Described as “a celebration of Russian literature in translation featuring distinguished authors, translators, editors, publishers, journalists, filmmakers, broadcasters, and arts, education, and cultural institutions,” Russian Literature Week! 2014 will also promote new translations of Russian literature, new film, and online initiatives related to Russian literature and book culture from publishers and producers large and small.

PEN American Center is proud to have the following members participating in events:

Monday, December 1
The launch will be a panel discussion of the “New Old Classics,” featuring a conversation between PEN member Marian Schwartz, translator of over 60 volumes of Russian classic and contemporary fiction, history, biography, criticism, and fine art—including a new translation of Anna Karenina just released by Yale University Press—and NYRB Classics editor Edwin Frank. 

Tuesday, December 2
Marian Schwartz, who was awarded the Read Russia Prize in Moscow this past September for her translation of Leonid Yuzefovich’s Harlequin’s Costume, will join Ross Ufberg, translator from Polish and Russian and publisher of New Vessel Press, and PEN Translation Committee member Ronald Meyer, who like Schwartz is translating a volume of Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s The Red Wheel cycle as part of the Solzhenitsyn Initiative, for a discussion of “Then and Now: Classics v. Contemporary Literature.” (Harriman Institute, Columbia University, 12pm, free admission)

Wednesday, December 3
Marian Schwartz and fellow Pen Translation Committee member Antonina Bouis, translator of Malevich, Sakharov, Tolstaya and Yevtushenko, to name just a few of her many authors, will join publisher and translator Jeff Parker for a conversation on “Publishing and Politics,” namely, the way the bigger picture (international affairs, state policies) can influence what gets translated, what gets published—and when. Moderated by author, translator and critic Liesl Schillinger. Reception to follow. (Book Culture, 536 W. 112 St., 7pm, free admission)

Thursday, December 4
Authors and translators Ian Dreiblatt, Genya Turovskaya, and Matvei Yankelevich will gather at Poets House for “reading and conversation” on the particular challenges certain works and authors present. (Poets House, 10 River Terrace, 7pm, free admission)

To RSVP, and for full details on events and venues, including film screenings and online events not listed above, visit the Read Russia website.