The Living Dostoevsky: Adaptation and Translation
Channel: British Library
Date: 2021-12-10

Broadcast Tue 9 Nov 2021

This year marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of the literary giant Fydor Dostoevsky. Join us in celebrating the legacy of the Russian great and posing the question: what makes his work speak to audiences today?

Our selected panel of speakers are located across a broad spectrum of disciplines, including, academia, theatre and literature. A common thread for all is their work adapting and translating Dostoevsky material for a modern audience.

Viv Groskop, the author of The Anna Karenina Fix: Life Lessons from Russian Literature, will be joined by Elizabeth Newman, Alex Christofi and Dr Oliver Ready in conversation about their experiences working with Dostoevsky and why his writing is still as relevant today.

Dr Oliver Ready is a University of Oxford based literary scholar and translator specialising in Russian prose of the late- and post-soviet period, and in the nineteenth-century classics, especially Gogol and Dostoevsky. Oliver has translated many works of Russian literature including Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment for which he was shortlisted for the PEN Translation Prize. His other commendations include: the International Read Russia Prize, the Read Russia Prize, and the Rossica Prize. Oliver serves on the editorial board of the Russian Library and was Consultant Editor for Russia and East-Central Europe at the Times Literary Supplement.

Alex Christofi is Editorial Director at Transworld Publishing and has written for many publications including, the Guardian, New Humanist, Prospect, The White Review, The Brixton Review of Books and The London Magazine. His published fiction includes Let Us Be True and Glass for which he was awarded the Betty Trask Prize and was long-listed for the Desmond Elliott Prize. Dostoevsky In Love is his first published work of non-fiction.

Elizabeth Newman has been Artistic Director of the Pitlochry Festival Theatre in Perthshire, Scotland since 2018. In 2020, she won Best Director at the prestigious Critic’s Awards for Theatre in Scotland. Prior to this, Elizabeth held the position of Artistic Director at the Bolton Octagon Theatre. Elizabeth adapted and directed a stage version of Dostoevsky’s White Nights which was performed at Pitlochry Festival Theatre.

Viv Groskop is a writer, comedian, broadcaster and host of chart-topping podcasts, How to Own the Room and We Can Rebuild Her. In 2020, Viv was a judge in the 25th anniversary Women’s Prize for Fiction award. Viv is the author of several best-selling books including, How to Own the Room: Women, The Art of Brilliant Speaking, Au Revoir, Tristesse: Lessons in Happiness in French Literature and The Anna Karenina Fix: Life Lessons from Russian Literature. She is fluent in Russian has been a trustee of Pushkin House, the independent centre for Russian culture in London.