“I fondly remember the month I spent at Columbia and in New York City giving lectures on Russian literature. I was happy to talk to students who shared my love for Gogol, Goncharov, Tolstoi, and all the writers who made my literature so important for survival in this difficult life. I am thankful to all the colleagues I had the pleasure to meet then and  whom I still count among my friends. And last but not least, Manhattan in spring with all the blossoming cherries and magnolias is unbeatable.”

Mikhail Shishkin inaugurated the Harriman Writer in Residence Program in April 2013. During his time at Columbia he taught a seminar on “Classics and Politics in Contemporary Russian Literature” and appeared with Marian Schwartz, the translator of his novel Maidenhair (2012), for a conversation and reading.

Shishkin has won all three of Russia’s major literary awards: the Russian Booker, the National Bestseller, and the Big Book Prize. The English translation of Maidenhair was shortlisted for the Best Translated Book Award.

Watch the video, Mikhail Shishkin: A Reading and Conversation with His Translator.

Read Bradley Gorski’s “Interview with Mikhail Shishkin” (Harriman Magazine, Summer 2013).

Photo by E. Frolkina