I’ve been following Anastasia Edel’s the New York Review of Books Daily column, where she writes lyrical and thought-provoking essays about life in the USSR, often with a very contemporary hook. This week’s piece is called “My Chernobyl Vacation Friend,” tied to the recent popularity of the HBO series, and conveys the drama of how the Chernobyl survivors and people from the area were seen elsewhere in the USSR. How scared people were of each other.
Anastasia Edel’s writing for the New York Review of Books
Published by Olga Zilberbourg
Olga Zilberbourg’s English-language debut LIKE WATER AND OTHER STORIES (WTAW Press) explores “bicultural identity hilariously, poignantly,” according to The Moscow Times. It also dives into topics of bisexuality and immigrant parenthood. Anthony Marra called it “…a book of succinct abundance, dazzling in its particulars, expansive in its scope,” and Karen Bender said, “Olga Zilberbourg is a writer to read right now.” Zilberbourg’s writing has appeared in World Literature Today, The Believer, Electric Literature, Lit Hub, Alaska Quarterly Review, and elsewhere. Born in Leningrad, USSR in a Russian-speaking Jewish family, she makes her home in San Francisco, California. She has published four collections of stories in Russia, including most recent Задержи дыхание [Hold Your Breath] from Vremya Press. She serves as a consulting editor at Narrative Magazine and as a co-facilitator of the San Francisco Writers Workshop. Together with Yelena Furman, she has co-founded Punctured Lines, a feminist blog about literature from the former Soviet Union. She is currently at work on her first novel. View all posts by Olga Zilberbourg
Punctured Lines 