At the meeting, writer Viktor Erofeev will present the novel “The Great Gopnik”, read chapters from the as-yet unpublished novel and talk with the authors SYLLABLE'a (Commonwealth of Russian-speaking writers in Germany).
The meeting was moderated by poet Dmitry Dragilev.
Victor Erofeev — Russian writer, essayist, literary scholar, one of the most striking and provocative authors of modern Russian literature. Author of the bestsellers Russian Beauty, Encyclopedia of the Russian Soul, Life with an Idiot, Good Stalin, Der Große Gopnik (2023). Initiator of the legendary almanac Metropol (1979), which turned the Soviet literary scene upside down. Since 2022, he has lived in Germany. Published in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Die Zeit, The New Yorker, Le Monde and other leading publications around the world. Performances and operas based on his plays and texts have been staged, including The Great Gopnik at the Freiburg Theatre (2024) and Alfred Schnittke's opera Life with an Idiot (1991), directed by Kirill Serebrennikov in Zurich (2024). Laureate of the French Order of Arts and Literature (Officier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres) and the Order of the Legion of Honour (Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur).
Dmitry Dragilev — German Russian-language poet, essayist, prose writer, musician. Since 2015 he has headed the Commonwealth of Russian-Speaking Writers in Germany (SLOG). Member of the Writers' Union of Latvia. Numerous publications (Daugava, Uralskaya Nov', Vozdukh, Novoye Literaturnoye Obozreniye, Novaya Yunost, Khreshchatyk, Studiya, Berlin.Berega, TextOnly, Flags, Dvoetochie, post(non)fiction, Artikulation, Topos). He was the editor of the magazine VIA REGIA (Erfurt), taught at the Viadrina University (Frankfurt an der Oder), and is involved in music projects. In 2009-16 he was a participant and one of the initiators of the literary group Zapad napered. Author of collections of works Städtische Ligaturen (Hochroth Berlin, 2016), Believe in the Corrected (Kyiv, Fedorov's Dvor, 2024), the documentary novel Shmalyaem Jazz, Cholera Is Clear! (Dekom Publishing House, 2011), the book of essays Labyrinths of Russian Tango (St. Petersburg, 2008), etc. Laureate of the Children of Ra magazine award (2006), winner of the special prize of the Berlin Russian-language slam (2006), and recipient of the Berlin Senate scholarship in foreign-language literature (2019).
Julia Efremenkova — Russian-speaking writer, essayist and producer, has been living in Germany since 2014. Works in the media field. She is a member of the Commonwealth of Russian-Speaking Writers of Germany (SLOG), and has been its secretary since 2022. Her works have been published in magazines such as Druzhba Narodov, Novaya Yunost, Berlin.Berega, Khreshchatyk, Artikulation and in collections: Gardens (No Kidding Press), New Year's Tales of a Miracle (AST Publishing House, 2023), Berlin Without a Mask (Foreign Literature Publishing House, 2021).
Mikhail Shleikher — writer, poet, essayist and designer. Since 2019, he has been co-chairman of the Commonwealth of Russian-Speaking Writers of Germany (SLOG) and editor of the prose department of the Berlin.Berega magazine. He has published in collections, magazines and online publications, including: Ural, Novy Svet, Khreshchatyk, Berlin.Berega, Artikulation, Neprikosnovenny zapas, Vecherniy New York, Apostraf and others. As part of SLOG, he participated in the Berlin without a Mask project — a collection of stories reflecting the life of the city during the pandemic.
Elena Tikhomirova-Madden — writer, critic, literary scholar, member of SLOG, since 2022 — secretary of the organization. Doctor of Philological Sciences. Since 2004 lives in Germany. She has published as a historian of Russian literature in scientific collections, and as a critic, essayist and prose writer in the magazines Znamya, Novy Mir, Oktyabr, Novoye Literaturnoye Obozreniye, Russkiy Zhurnal, Novy Zhurnal, Futurum ART, Deti Ra, Topos, Studiya, Berlin.Berega, Chetvertaya Volna, Dragoman Petrov, Textura, Partner and others. She is the author of five books, including a two-volume monograph on contemporary prose of the Russian diaspora and Russia, as well as the reference book Russische zeitgenössische Schriftsteller in Deutschland ("Contemporary Russian Writers in Germany"). She also writes under the pseudonyms Elena Tima, Elena Madden.