Acclaimed Russian writer visits Boston
One of Russia's most acclaimed living writers is visiting the United States for only the second time, and her sojourn includes stops this week at Boston University and the Pierre Menard Gallery, in Harvard Square.
Both Harper's and The New Yorker have published excerpts of Ludmilla Petrushevskaya's latest book, "There Once Lived a Woman Who Tried to Kill Her Neighbor's Baby: Scary Fairy Tales," which was translated into English by Keith Gessen and Anna Summers, and published by Penguin. Elle magazine wrote, of the collection: "If there's any justice, this humble paperback will be greeted as the pinnacle of modern literature that it is--but as Petrushevskaya would be the first to say, to hope for justice is to invite mockery."
At B.U., Petrushevskaya will be reading in Russian, so that one's probably for the hard-core. (Thursday night, 7 p.m., Room 101 of BU's School of Communications Building, 640 Commonwealth Avenue. Tickets $5 at the door.)
On Friday, the free gallery reception--10 Arrow St., Cambridge--
will include a reading (in English), wine, and book-signings by the author.
Oh, and she might just sing. It turns out she's a professional cabaret singer, too--one of the many commonalities between her and Solzhenitsyn.
