Writing To Be Heard, Writing to Heal: The Survivors of the Genocide in Rwanda Tell their Story

In 1994, in a period of only 100 days, over one million people were brutally murdered during the genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. The horror of the genocide was intensified by the fact that the crimes were perpetrated by people the victims knew and trusted – their neighbours, friends, and family members. The end …

Imagining silence: experiencing history as fiction

By Katie Hamilton, PhD student in the Department of American & Canadian Studies On first consideration, a reading and conversation with a novelist seems an incongruous way to celebrate Black History Month. It begs the question of what a contemporary novel can tell us about the history of the African diaspora that we don’t already …

Bloodthirsty Urges, Papier-Mâché Pigs and More: Behind the Scenes of Golyi Korol’

Last week we published a review of the recent Russian play. Now, one of the actors, Year Two student Bryony Lingard, gives us her insider’s perspective on the production… This year I made a more concentrated effort to get involved in pretty much everything I could at university, and one of the things I decided …

Students impress in Russian play

In an earlier post, Olivia Hellewell reported on the preparations for this year’s Russian play, Golyi korol’ (The Naked King) by Evgenii Shwartz. Now, Cynthia Marsh, Emeritus Professor of Russian Drama and Literature, reviews the play, which was performed in the University of Nottingham’s Performing Arts Studio over three nights earlier this month (10-12 June …

Russian Play: The Naked King

For the third consecutive year, the hard work of undergraduate and postgraduate students from the Department of Russian and Slavonic Studies will culminate in the staging of a Russian-language theatre performance, which for 2014 will be Evgeny Shvarts’ Golyi Korol’ (The Naked King). Shvarts began writing children’s literature during the 1920s, and in 1929 he …

Blessed are the Translators: An Evening of Slovene Poetry

Final-year students Katie Harrison (English and Russian) and Christopher O’Rourke (Russian and Serbian/Croatian) were part of a translation workshop in Russian and Slavonic Studies this semester. Here are their thoughts on translating works by the award-winning Slovene poet Katja Perat. Anyone who has ever been faced with the task of translating a piece of writing …

Writer in Residence 2014: Sudabeh Mohafez visits Nottingham

A special guest is about to visit the School of Cultures, Languages and Area Studies. DAAD-Sprachassistentin Anke Bohm from the Department of German tells us more… The Department of German is delighted to welcome our Writer in Residence 2014 Sudabeh Mohafez. She will be staying with us from 24 February for two weeks. The German-Iranian …

Пусть начнутся Игры!

On February 7 the 2014 XXII Winter Olympic Games begin in Sochi in southern Russia with alpine events to be held in the Mountain Cluster of venues in the resort of Krasnaya Polyana some 50 kilometres from the Coastal Cluster where six spectacular stadia have been constructed at massive expense. This is the most prestigious …

Where the Governmental and the Avant-Garde meet

The following post by Kiki Yu was originally published on the blog of the School of Contemporary Chinese Studies at UNNC. If the charm of Berlin lies in the confrontation of different ideologies demonstrated through architecture and the closeness between history and present, the beauty of Shanghai is highlighted through the harmonious mix of all …

Brick Lane from Page to Screen: Representation, Authenticity and British Asian Cinema

Screening and discussion with Dr Ruth Maxey, American & Canadian Studies: Sarah Gavron (dir.), Brick Lane (2007) Location: B7, The Hemsley, University Park Date: Wednesday 13 November 2013, 6.30pm Free Admission – All Welcome Please join me for a screening and Q&A discussion of Sarah Gavron’s 2007 film adaptation of Monica Ali’s bestselling novel, Brick …