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Media Rare: The Legacy of Sam/Tamizdat and the Future of Independent Russophone Publishing

Thu, November 20, 7:30 to 10:00pm EST (7:30 to 10:00pm EST), -

Session Submission Type: Ancillary Event

Brief Description

The full-scale invasion of Ukraine has driven Russophone anti-war writers and cultural producers into exile, bringing renewed urgency to the discourse on self-publishing and exterritorial publishing as a mode of literary and political resistance. Does contemporary independent publishing inherit the ethos of samizdat and tamizdat, or has it entered an entirely new phase? How do exile, digital networks, and shifting cultural geographies shape alternative publishing today? Paying tribute to Prof. Peter Reddaway’s essential contributions to the project of tamizdat, the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies at GW would like to invite the audience of the ASEEES convention for a unique library exhibit of sam- and tamizdat materials and a panel discussion about the future of independent Russophone publishing, followed by a reception.

"Media Rare" will showcase diverse genres and materialities of sam- and tamizdat production from the special collection of the George Washington University Library alongside contemporary multi-media recordings and Russophone literary works recently published by independent presses outside of Russia. Following the guided tour of the exhibit, a panel discussion will mark the launch of the new website of Tamizdat Project, a public scholarship initiative for the study of banned books from the Cold War to the present. We will also celebrate the translation and publication of Exodus-22, the newest book documenting contemporary emigration experience, compiled and edited by Linor Goralik and released this fall by Tamizdat Project. The panel will bring together cultural critics, translators, poets, and librarians who will examine whether contemporary independent Russophone presses carry forward the legacy of Soviet-era unofficial publishing or if they represent a fundamentally new paradigm in alternative literary production. The event will conclude with a reception.

Reservations are suggested: https://form.jotform.com/251494163636158

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