On Monday, 4 December Anna Arutunyan will discuss her recent book Hybrid Warriors: Proxies, Freelancers and Moscow’s Struggle for Ukraine (Hurst, 2022), now published in paperback edition, with Mark Galeotti. The book describes the background and complex dynamics between various groups and factions involved in the Russian military aggression in Ukraine: from genuine enthusiasts and political adventurers to practical businessmen and cynical mercenaries; and outlines the chaos that led to the full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Join us on Thursday, 30 November for a conversation with Irina Borogan and Andrei Soldatov, the leading specialists on the history and practices of the secret services in Russia. The event will be moderated by Grigor Atanesian (BBC World Service) and together they will discuss the changes that the Russian invasion of Ukraine has brought about in the more clandestine activities of the Russian state.

In the context of Mykola Ridnyi’s solo exhibition The Battle over Mazepa, Pushkin House is excited to welcome the prominent contemporary philosopher and cultural theorist Keti Chukhrov, ScD, who, over two days, is going to share her thoughts on decolonial and anti-imperialist agendas; first giving a lecture on Thursday, November 16, and after facilitating a workshop on Friday, November 17. You can attend one or both events.

In the context of Mykola Ridnyi’s solo exhibition The Battle over Mazepa, Pushkin House is excited to welcome the prominent contemporary philosopher and cultural theorist Keti Chukhrov, ScD, who, over two days, is going to share her thoughts on decolonial and anti-imperialist agendas; first giving a lecture on Thursday, November 16, and after facilitating a workshop on Friday, November 17. You can attend one or both events.

Pushkin House and Natasha Rulyova are pleased to invite you to an online interview with the award-winning Uzbek author Hamid Ismailov. This will be the next event in our series of conversations with authors of Russophone literature. The event will be held in English.

George Orwell's Nineteen-Eighty-Four is one of the defining works of the twentieth century – and alarmingly has seen sales increase in recent years as its relevance to our politics seems only to increase. Join us for a discussion of the novel and its legacy with Sandra Newman and Dorian Lynskey, two writers who have written very different books inspired by Orwell's work. 

Join us on Friday 22 September for a conversation between political scientist Dr Jade McGlynn and journalist and documentary filmmaker Vladimir Raevskiy. Focusing on Memory Makers: The Politics of the Past in Putin's Russia (Bloomsbury Academic, 2023), the new book by McGlynn, the speakers will discuss the role of history in the production of Russian identity in the 21st century, popular involvement with historical narratives, and the combination of facts, myths and ideological frameworks that justify the Russian aggression for both decision-makers and regular Russian citizens.

Join us on Thursday, 14 September at 6pm either in person or online to hear a discussion about the stages, layers and crucial nuances of the economic conflict between Russia and the West, led by the United States, that has been waged for the last decade and escalated significantly following Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Maximilian Hess, the author of Economic War: Ukraine and the Global Conflict Between Russia and the West will discuss the findings from his book and the future of this conflict with Andrei Movchan, economist, financial manager and the founding partner of Movchan’s Group.

Join us for an evening with writers and artists Emily and Alice Haworth-Booth, Christopher Rainbow and William Goldsmith, chaired by Clementine Cecil.

Emily and Alice Haworth-Booth are co-authors of Protest! How People Have Come Together to Change the World (Pavilion 2021); Christopher Rainbow and William Goldsmith are co-authors of Russia 2018, A World Cup Journal (Sputnikat Press, 2022). Using graphic novels and books they document, process and protest in difficult times.

Pushkin House and Natasha Rulyova are pleased to invite you to an online interview with the award-winning Russophone Avar author Alisa Ganieva. This will be the second event of the series of conversations with authors of Russophone literature. The event will be held in English.

For those living in the Soviet Union, Orwell's masterpieces, Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four, were not dystopias, but accurate depictions of reality. In her new book the Orwell scholar and expert on Russian politics Masha Karp explores how Orwell's work was received in Russia, when it percolated into the country even under censorship. In this event, she will discuss her book with Edward Lucas, and together they will explore how Orwell's writing is read and received in today's Russia. 

Sergei Loznitsa has established himself as one of Europe’s leading filmmakers, producing numerous award-winning documentaries and feature films over a twenty-five-year career. In his work, he dares to dispassionately consider the most painful and important pages of history without compromising the current social and political agenda. Film critic Jonathan Romney will speak with Sergei about his oeuvre, cultural background, artistic method and thoughts on the contemporary geopolitical context.

Join Phillipe Sands, author of The Last Colony (shortlisted for the Orwell Prize 2023), Douglas Kerr, author of Orwell and Empire, and Kojo Koram, author of Uncommon Wealth (shortlisted for the Orwell Prize 2022) as they explore first what Kerr calls Orwell's "creative quarrel" with imperialism, and how it can shine a light on contemporary debates about the legacy of the British Empire, which Koram and Sands have both explored in their Orwell Prize-listed books.

Pushkin House and Dr Natasha Rulyova are delighted to launch a series of conversations with authors of Russophone literature. The first in the series is an event with the award-winning Tatar author Guzel Yakhina. Her three novels — Zuleikha, My Children and A Train to Samarkand —  have been highly acclaimed and translated into dozens of languages.

Pushkin House is hosting a conversation between two prominent scholars Dr Ian Garner and Dr Jade McGlynn who have both published new books about propaganda, paternalism and rally 'round the flag effect caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The Pushkin Club invites you to the presentation of the new book by Alan Philps: The Red Hotel: The Untold Story of Stalin’s Disinformation War. The author reveals how the Soviet leader transformed his wartime image from blood-soaked dictator to cuddly “Uncle Joe”. The book tells the story of Stalin’s wartime propaganda campaign though the experience of foreign journalists and their Soviet translators who lived and worked in the Metropol Hotel in Moscow.

Join us to hear Harriet Crawley discuss her latest novel, a love story and political thriller, with the former British ambassador to Russia, Sir Roderic Lyne. The Times has included The Translator in its list of “the best new thrillers”, and the reviews praise author’s descriptions of the everyday life in Moscow, her ability to create suspense, and the political relevance of the plot at the time when the Russian state has once again become a major geopolitical threat.

We invite you to join Brigid O’Keeffe in conversation with Natalya Chernyshova about O’Keeffe’s new book, The Multiethnic Soviet Union and its Demise. They will discuss ethnic politics in the USSR that aimed to mobilise and suppress the minority groups that made up the Union, and how these policies have shaped contemporary Russia's relationships and conflicts with its 'post-Soviet' and affected Eurasia and the world ever since. 

The Pushkin Club invites you to a discussion with Svetlana Shnitman-McMillin about her new book, The Burden of Chivalry, about the life and writing of one of the greatest post-war Russian writers, Georgi Vladimov. Georgi Vladimov was not a prolific writer, but the publication of each of his books became a huge event for Russian literature and around the world. He was also one of the leaders of the dissident movement in Russia, the head of the Moscow branch of Amnesty International, and was a personal friend of the academician Andrey Sakharov. The conversation will be held in English.

Join Maxim Osipov in conversation with Robert Chandler about his new book, Kilometer 101, a collection of 11 short stories and non-fiction essays written over 15 years which demonstrate Osipov’s penetrating insight, fearless realism and stoic humanism in his approach to life in modern Russia.

Join us for a conversation with designer and entrepreneur Ilya Oskolkov-Tsentsiper and Anton Derlyatka, co-founder and CEO of Sweatcoin, a hugely successful Web 3.0 startup. They will be discussing how the world is changing and what is the real potential of news-making technologies, decentralised networks and artificial intelligence.

The Pushkin Club, Rights in Russia and RAW in WAR (Reach All Women in War) invite you to an evening with Svetlana Gannushkina and Tetiana Sokolova, the winners of the Anna Politkovskaya Award. This award is presented annually by RAW in WAR, an International Human Rights NGO, to women human rights defenders from conflict zones  around the world who, like Anna, stand up for the victims, often at great personal risk. The 2022 Anna Politkovskaya Award will be  presented on 12 March  2023 at a special event ‘Refusing to be Silenced’ as part  of WOW (Women of the World Festival) at the Southbank Centre in London to the two winners: Tetiana Sokolova, a courageous midwife from the city of Mariupol in Eastern Ukraine, and Svetlana Gannushkina, a brave human rights defender from Moscow.

The Pushkin Club invites you to join Yelena Lembersky for a presentation of Like A Drop of Ink in a Downpour, a memoir written by her and her mother, Galina Lembersky. The memoir traces Yelena and Galina’s experiences in the 1970s and 1980s, exploring the bond between mother and daughter, the realities faced by Jews in the USSR, and the value of art and culture as a means of truth, hope and political resistance.

The Pushkin Club invites you to join Timothy Phillips and Masha Karp in conversation about his new book, The Curtain and the Wall: A Modern Journey along Europe’s Cold War Border. In his major new book Phillips travels the length of the Iron Curtain from the Arctic Circle to the Caucasus, exploring the clash of civilisations at its height during the Cold War, meeting those who lived through times of drastic change, and discovering the root of many of our world’s current disputes.

Pushkin House invites you to the joint celebration of Zinovy Zinik’s collection of short stories No Cause for Alarm (2022) and the winter issue of the Index on Censorship magazine with one of Zinik’s stories in it. 

The publication of Zinovy Zinik’s collection of short stories in Russia coincided with the Russian invasion of Ukraine last year. The idea of launching the newly published book in Moscow has become unthinkable. “I feel again in a state of being ‘locked out’, like I felt four decades ago when I arrived in London to work for the BBC World Service”, says Zinik in his interview to Martin Bright, Editor at Large of the Index on Censorship. One of the consequences of the harrowing war in Ukraine was a new wave of mass migration of the Russian intelligentsia to Europe and beyond.

On Thursday 19 January, Pushkin House invites you to listen to a panel of experts who will discuss the economic sanctions that the West has imposed on Russia. Designed to penalise any contribution to Russia’s war machine, these sanctions have crippled Russian industrial production and damaged the commercial and financial sectors, but have not yet put an end to the war. How do the experts regard the current situation? The speakers include Maximilian Hess, Elina Ribakova and Nicholas Trickett, and the conversation will be moderated by Dasha Afanasieva.

Pushkin House is partnering with Zima Club to organise an event for the Russian-speaking audience.

We bring together Owen Matthews, the author of Overreach: The Inside Story of Putin and Russia’s War Against Ukraine, and political journalist Masha Slonim. They will discuss the current state of the global conflict, the events that preceded it, the mood among Russian elites, as well as the issues of the potential further escalation of the warfare and the possibility of negotiations.

The Pushkin Club invites you to a talk by Stephania Kulaeva and Olga Abramenko, experts from the Anti-Discrimination Centre Memorial. The Anti-Discrimination Centre Memorial (ADC) is one of many organisations that make up the Memorial movement, which came into existence during the years of perestroika in the Soviet Union. The organisation has become renowned for its human rights and historical work in the Russian Federation and is now being developed in many European countries. Its work focuses on discrimination and protection of vulnerable groups, minorities and women.

Join us to mark the publication of a new edition of Charles Clover’s magisterial Black Wind White Snow, which casts fresh light on the Kremlin’s road to war in Ukraine. Taking a deep dive into the ideology behind Russia’s drive to create a Eurasian empire, Clover digs into the writings of Alexander Dugin and their influence on Russian foreign policy. Joining Clover to discuss how Dugin’s philosophy entered the Russian political mainstream is Catherine Belton, author of Putin’s People: How the KGB Took Back Russia and then Took On the West.

Pushkin House invites you to a discussion about the fraught state of relations between Russia and the West over the past thirty years, and about the man who has fanned the flames of the crisis. Authors Mary Elise Sarotte and Timothy Frye, both shortlisted for our Book Prize 2022, will explore the state of the modern Russian political system; challenge the conventional wisdom about the ruler who stands at its helm; and assess the fraught stand-off unfolding between east and west. What could the future hold for Russia? Could we see an end to this geopolitical and humanitarian nadir?