Registration REQUIRED by 4pm on February 16, 2026 in order to attend this event.
Please join the Harriman Institute for a book talk by Svetlana Satchkova. Moderated by Mark Lipovetsky.
In this darkly funny and emotionally resonant novel of contemporary Russia, a young filmmaker unexpectedly finds herself targeted by an authoritarian regime—despite her best efforts to stay out of politics.
“The Undead” is a layered and sharply observant portrait of an artist caught in the machinery of state power, and the choices one faces in a system where even indifference can be dangerous. Written with the intimate insight of an émigré from Putin’s Russia, “The Undead” is both a compelling narrative and a chilling reflection of how repression operates today—not just against dissidents, but against anyone.
When Maya, a young Russian filmmaker, makes a low-budget horror movie, it seems like a promising start to her indie film career. But her jokey lo-fi picture soon attracts the attention of the autocratic state, and Maya is swept into a nightmarish system where logic breaks down and no one is safe.
Svetlana Satchkova is a Russian-born journalist and novelist who immigrated to the United States in 2016. She covers culture and politics, with bylines in the Rumpus, Newsweek, LARB, the Independent, and others. Currently a research fellow at the Jordan Center for the Advanced Study of Russia at NYU, she holds an MFA from Brooklyn College and lives in Brooklyn. Svetlana has published three novels in Russian; her English-language debut, The Undead: A Novel of Modern Russia, will be released by Melville House in January 2026.
Please email disability@columbia.edu to request disability accommodations. Advance notice is necessary to arrange for some accessibility needs.
