Please note that this event is not suitable for our English speaking only audiences, as no translation from Russian will be provided on this occasion. As part of our efforts to cater for our varied audiences and bring in a diversity of voices, some of our events now take an intimate chamber format and are conducted in Russian only.

Libris with Liberov is a series of intimate, thought-provoking talks where literature becomes a living conversation. Guided entirely by Roma Liberov’s personal choices and passions, each evening opens a new door into the world of Russian authors.

Daniil Kharms – one of the most enigmatic and radical figures of twentieth-century literature. A poet, prose writer, and performer, Kharms turned absurdity into a tool for speaking about the most serious and dangerous things: freedom, faith, fear, time, and death. His writing resists explanation, logic, and comfort, yet continues to feel uncannily alive.

Roma Liberov will explore Kharms not as an eccentric absurdist, but as a tragic and prophetic artist for whom life itself became a form of performance and resistance. The conversation will trace Kharms’s path from playful linguistic experiments to the stark late texts written under repression, poverty, and isolation, where humour thins into silence and disappearance.

Despite persistent censorship, arrests and the tragic circumstances of his death during the Siege of Leningrad, Kharms’s imagination survives as an irrepressible force. How does his work transform despair into laughter, and chaos into a strange form of hope? Join us in thinking together about why, in Kharms’s world, life continues to defeat death "in an unknown way".

Roma Liberov is the CEO of WE EXIST! FOUNDATION, a film director, producer and screenwriter, known for his innovative documentary films that blend animation, puppetry, and archival materials to bring Russian literary figures to life. Through his work, Liberov has dedicated himself to preserving and reimagining Russian literary heritage for contemporary audiences. Liberov regularly lectures internationally, captivating audiences with his ability to make classic authors speak in a fresh, urgent, and deeply personal voice.

5a Bloomsbury Square London WC1A 2TA