Our two reading groups (one in-person and one online) create a space for sharing and exploration of our connections with the text, literature and culture

The meetings are run by facilitator Sasha Padziarei each month to discuss a book translated into English and available in the UK. We bring our unique perspectives to the meetings and question what we know and what we can learn about ourselves and about each other. The meetings take two hours with a break in the middle.

At our meeting we tend to explore narratives from the voices less heard, historical events witnessed from minorised perspectives, authors whose paths lead through oppression, censorship and punishment such as emigre writers, women, displaced peoples, and those whose native lands were claimed by the Russian Empire, the Soviet Union and post-Soviet Russia. 

Classical works of Russian Literature also have a place in the reading group. We re-read them together through the lens of time, social change, English translation as well as boundless geography of participants’ different backgrounds and – in the case of the online group – even their locations.

Everyone can suggest titles by submitting a short form, providing a title, the name of its author, and why it is interesting to discuss this book. Readers get a 20% discount in our bookshop on titles that we are currently reading.

The meeting of the in-person group takes place on the first Friday of the month at 4–6pm at Pushkin House; the online group meets on the third Friday of the month at 4–6pm UK time on Zoom. To sign up check the events page on our website. You can email any questions or feedback to the facilitators at reading.group@pushkinghouse.org.uk, which we check at least once a week.