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| Karen Finney Brianna Keilar |
Photo credit: Alfredo Flores
There was no vareniki with smetana, syrniki, kulicho or cavier bliny - but there was plenty of Vodka to make up for it.
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| Olga Slavnikova John Williams Narins |
Steve Clemons of The Atlantic and Susan Glasser of Foreign Policy Magazine hosted
a cocktail reception honoring a new generation of rising Russian
literary stars: Debut Prize Winners & Finalists Alisa Ganieva,
Dmitry Biryukov, Igor Savelyev, Irina Bogatyreva and Russian Novelist
and Debut Prize Director, Olga Slavnikova at the Glasser home.
While the honorees did speak some English, for guests it was like taking a Berlitz crash course in Russian. ... not an easy language, but the Vodka helped.
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| Igor Savelyev Dmitry Biryukov Alisa Genieva Irina Bogatyreva |
The
writers (shown above) were brought to the U.S. by The Debut Prize Foundation, a
Russian non-governmental organization and Causa Artium, a New York city
non-profit.
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| Jay Newton-Small Maryam Bradley |
"The
Debut Prize has been seeking out new young literary talent throughout
the world’s Russian-speaking population for over a decade. Receiving as
many as 50,000 submissions annually, it has become an important part of
Russian literary life. Debut Prize writers are transforming the
Russian literary landscape and are often called The Debut Generation," explained Co-director of Causa Artium John William Narins.
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| Theo and Susan |
The highlight of the evening was a spontaneous lighthearted plea by Glasser's young son Theo Baker to get your books fast before they ran out and that he could even get them autographed.
The Russian delegation moved on to Napolean Bistro & Lounge for dinner where two - yes two - rounds of 24 plates were served mixing up coq au vin with sweet potato french fries.........and Vodka, of course. It was there we had a chance to catch up with a few writers who told their stories. Put Russia on your bucket list.
Here's to you Theo: