The Russian Ministry of Culture has come under fire recently after accusations were levied by the Russian Writers’ Union of some 500 books having been removed from libraries by authorities in the Komi republic–and another fifty allegedly incinerated in the process. Most of these were textbooks published with money from the Soros Fund, run by hedge fund billionaire and very vocal Putin critic George Soros. A spokesperson for the Ministry of Culture has denied the accusations, stating that “if any books are declared ‘extremist’ through a court proceeding, they are put into the special list of the ministry of justice and immediately withdrawn from libraries. However, even in this case books are not destroyed, they are just not lent out to readers.”
To Burn, or Not To Burn
Just Listen
For this month’s fiction podcast at the New Yorker, Edwidge Danticat reads two Jamaica Kincaid stories, “Girl” and “Wingless,” following the publication of Kincaid’s recent See Now Then.
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Appearing Elsewhere
My story “I am the Lion Now” is the Story of the Week at Narrative Magazine.
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