The Russian Book Club in Cambridge is one of many initiatives of CamRuSS members. It was launched in December 2010, and was originally coordinated by Yekaterina Gorodova (2010-11), who was a constant source of inspiration, new challenges and endeavours, and the Russian literary news. Among the first members of the Club were Olga Dunstan, Tanya Yurasova, Elena Karazhova and Elena Alexander.
The idea of the Club is to read books written in Russian and discuss them once a month. The meetings used to take place in one of the members’ houses or in a cafe, in a warm and friendly atmosphere with tea and cake, lots of fun and sharing of deep thoughts and observations, all at the same time! In the past the Club has published a few issues of “Literaturnyi Listok”, an electronic newsletter, covering the most recent happenings in the Club and literature news in general.
On the initiative of Yekaterina Gorodova and the Club members, an internationally acclaimed contemporary Russian writer, Dina Rubina, was invited to Cambridge, and met with the Russian-speaking community in King’s College in April 2011. We also held a special meeting devoted to Pushkin’s poetry on his anniversary on 6th June 2011. In 2012, we welcomed to Cambridge Ludmilla Ulitskaya, and in 2013 the Club, together with other members of CamRuSS, organised an evening of short stories with Mikhail Segal.
In autumn 2011, Yelena Karl took over the coordination of the book club from Yekaterina. Then, in February 2016, Yelena passed this role to Olga Dunstan.
Book Club has a closed Facebook group.
During lockdown (2020 – 2021) the club continued to read and discuss works by Russian and international authors online.
However, in 2022, the club has ceased its activities. If there are any volunteers to revive, inspire and lead the club, we would love to hear from you!
Photos:
The Book Club’s first meeting, December 2010.
With Dina Rubina, April 2011.
With Ludmila Ulitskaya, March 2012.
Last updated 12/05/2021.
