Leeds Beckett's 'Writer in Residence' to feature at British Council Literature Seminar in Russia

The seminar, which is to be chaired by Dr Katy Shaw, also from Leeds Beckett, will take place from Thursday 15 September to Sunday 18 September at Yasnaya Polyana, the former home of acclaimed writer Leo Tolstoy, author of War and Peace and Anna Karenina.

Head of English Literature and Principal Lecturer in Contemporary Writing at Leeds Beckett, Dr Shaw said: “As an academic who has devoted her career to writing about 21st century British literature I am honoured and excited to be taking the British Council seminar series to its inaugural outing in Russia.  We hope to engage Russian readers, critics, scholars and students in a range of debates on key issues and developments of the new millennium.  Via lectures, seminars, author events and interactive workshops we hope to share the brilliant work being done in British literature today."

The seminar, which will feature critically acclaimed British novelists Nicola Barker, Charlotte Mendelson, Owen Sheers, Louise Welsh and Sunjeev Sahota, is set to encourage both formal and informal discussion in an open and comfortable environment in which British writers and Russian participants can contribute on an equal footing.  The writers will be interviewed, give readings of their work, and contribute to panel discussions and workshops with seminar participants.

Cortina Butler, Director of Literature at the British Council, added: “I am delighted that some of the most talented and interesting writers of fiction in the UK today will discuss their work at Yasnaya Polyana.  This is bound to be a memorable event and I hope that it will be the first of many similar literary exchanges.”

Established in Germany by British author and academic Malcolm Bradbury in 1986, the British Council Literature Seminar was developed to 'bring together academics, publishers, translators and other creative professionals to discuss contemporary writing with UK authors from diverse backgrounds'.  Previous speakers have included Ian McEwan, Salman Rushdie and David Nicholls.

Ekaterina Tolstaya, Director of the Leo Tolstoy Museum and Estate, collaborators of the event, said: "Tolstoy’s personal library at Yasnaya Polyana includes many works by the Greats of British Literature, including Shakespeare, Dickens, Robert Louis Stevenson, Thackeray and George Bernard Shaw. On the pages of those books there are many notes made by Tolstoy, which show his great interest in British literature”

As the Russian educational system becomes increasingly internationalised and competitive, the seminar was conceived as a much needed opportunity for Russian academics, researchers and senior high school teachers to refresh their professional knowledge. It is hoped that the seminar will become an annual event in Russia's literary calendar.