The New Russian Literature at the NYPL

Here's the thing about New York: on a cold, rain-spitting Saturday in February, the main branch of Manhattan's library system, in conjunction with Causa Artium, hosts a panel of young Russian writers reading from and discussing their work in Russian, and it's standing-room only. Thanks to an adept translator, those of us unfluent in Tolstoy's tongue could participate, but still. Dmitry Biryukov, Irina Bogatyreva, Alisa Ganieva, and Igor Savelyev, all singled out by the Debut Prize (awarded to the best Russian writers under 35, from among 40,000-70,000 entrants) and its coordinator, Russian Booker winner Olga Slavnikova, read fiction as varied as the world's largest country itself. Stories moved from the war-torn Caucusus to the streets of Kiev, from absurdist train travel to hitchhiking with a mind-reader and long-distance trucker.  Lately, we've been having a particularly ardent love affair with the library, but who can blame us? It's Чертов awesome.