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The Slavic Literature Pod

@slaviclitpod.bsky.social
342 followers 61 following 92 posts

Your shelf-help guide to the Slavic canon. Hosted by Cameron Lallana, founded in blood, sweat, and tears with Matt Gerasimovich. New episodes Fridays 2x/month.

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The Slavic Literature Pod @slaviclitpod.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Out today: I sit down with Drs. Halyna Babak and Yuliya Ilchuk to talk about their Vol. 1 & 2 of their new reader, Ukrainian Literary Modernism of the 1910s - Mid-1930s. Get an in-depth look at the forces that shaped Ukrainian literary movements through the early Soviet era.
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The Slavic Literature Pod @slaviclitpod.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Revolutions roiled the world at the turn of the 20th century. People fought these battles with the pen as well as the gun, inking bodies of literature and art for national and political projects. Their work pushed new artistic movements -- and caused others to seek the past.
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The Slavic Literature Pod @slaviclitpod.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Out today: Jake Zawlacki comes on the podcast to talk about his translation of Akhmet Baitursynov's Mosquito. Originally published in 1911, Baitursynov's poetry collection contains his desires and fears for the Kazakh people, polemic verses, and hopes for a yet-to-exist state.
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The Slavic Literature Pod @slaviclitpod.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Around the turn of the 20th century, Akhmet Baitursynov was a poet of a state yet to come. His work teaching, reforming the Kazakh alphabet, and developing the language's grammar would eventually earn him the title "Teacher of the Nation."
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The Slavic Literature Pod @slaviclitpod.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
"Just think of it, all these women, the mothers, wives and sisters of saboteurs, terrorists and spies! And the men, the husband or brother of one . . . They all looked perfectly ordinary, like those on a streetcar or a store. Except they all looked tired and baggy-eyed."
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The Slavic Literature Pod @slaviclitpod.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
(Ah, a Pride Month post in July…now there’s the Slavic Literature Pod’s trademark speediness) Pride Month is over; celebrating Pride is not. I have some further thoughts, but I don't want to subject you to 6 posts. Check out www.instagram.com/slaviclitpod/ if you'd like to read them.
A graphic with a green background. On the left side, vertically, is the text Happy Pride Month. There is the word belated in parentheses next to Happy. 

On the right hand side is a vertical multi-Pride flag that stretches form the top to the bottom. Toward the bottom is the text "the Slavic Lit Pod"
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The Slavic Literature Pod @slaviclitpod.bsky.social · 13/06/2026
Out today on For Your Consideration: I have some thoughts about John Williams' Butcher's Crossing. To take a line from Wallace Stegner: "Why...should Western books so often strike us as dealing with a past which has no present? Are Westerners so stupid that they don’t believe in evil? (Cont.)
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The Slavic Literature Pod @slaviclitpod.bsky.social · 03/05/2026
Out today! A discussion of Frederick Wiseman's film "The Last Letter," which dramatizes one particular chapter of Vasily Grossman's Life and Fate: the last letter Anna Semionova writes her son, Viktor Shtrum, before she is killed by the Nazis.
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The Slavic Literature Pod @slaviclitpod.bsky.social · 03/04/2026
Out Today: A little delay on our next Sasha Sokolov episode... But, in the meantime, let's prep for an upcoming episode about Frederick Wiseman's 2002 film "The Last Letter," which explores one of the most affecting chapters from Vasily Grossman's Life and Fate.
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The Slavic Literature Pod @slaviclitpod.bsky.social · 20/03/2026
We're kicking off a double feature about Sasha Sokolov, starting with his first novel, A School for Fools. Dr. José Vergara returns to help break down the nonlinear stories of student so-and-so as he tries to explain his school, his love interest and his small town.
A picture of the author Sasha Sokolov on a green background with the text Sasha Sokolov, A School for Fools, with Dr. Jose Vergara
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The Slavic Literature Pod @slaviclitpod.bsky.social · 07/03/2026
It's been a long time coming...part two of Andrei Platonov's Chevengur, covering chapters 25-43, is out today! As we finally arrive in the town of Chevengur, nearly 250 pages in, we go from picaresque romp to the dirty work of actually building the Soviet state.
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The Slavic Literature Pod @slaviclitpod.bsky.social · 27/02/2026
Chevengur, part 2, coming soon to a theater near you... When I was editing this episode, I realize it felt a little half-baked and didn't want to do Andrei Platonov that disservice. We're going to take another crack at it and bring you something better next Friday.
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The Slavic Literature Pod @slaviclitpod.bsky.social · 13/02/2026
It's finally here...and it's a real big fish. Oleksandr Dovzhenko's "Zvenihora" (1928) is an ambitious silent film masterpiece, spanning a thousand years of Ukrainian history from Varangian Invasion to new Soviet reality.
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The Slavic Literature Pod @slaviclitpod.bsky.social · 06/02/2026
The next episode on Dovzhenko's "Zvenyhora" is coming! Working my way through a research rabbithole. In the meantime, check out an older episode: Vasily Grossman's The People Immortal. Less mature than his later work, it nonetheless shows his immense commitment to truth.
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The Slavic Literature Pod @slaviclitpod.bsky.social · 21/01/2026
Out today! I sat down with Rosamund Bartlett and Elena Michajlowska to talk about their new book: Anton Chekhov, Earliest Stories: Stories, Novellas, Humoresques, 1880-1882. The collection covers Chekhov's earliest published stories, a great insight into his juvenile writing!
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The Slavic Literature Pod @slaviclitpod.bsky.social · 16/01/2026
Happy Friday! A short delay on the way to the cherry orchard, but you'll hear our new episode soon.
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The Slavic Literature Pod @slaviclitpod.bsky.social · 01/01/2026
Happy New Year, everybody! The Slavic Lit Pod has one last gift from 2025: Sayat Nova (1969), directed by Sergei Parajanov. Plus! I watched a lot of films last year, so here are five that I really liked. (It's on YouTube, too, so you can see what I'm talking about)
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The Slavic Literature Pod @slaviclitpod.bsky.social · 16/09/2025
A little late, but out today: The latest For Your Consideration explores Ilya Kaminsky's Deaf Republic and Hai Fan's Delicious Hunger. "THE PEOPLE ARE DEAF," declares Sonya's sign in the face of occupying soldiers, as Deaf Republic explores how the town of Vasenka resists them.
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The Slavic Literature Pod @slaviclitpod.bsky.social · 03/09/2025
Hey, did you catch it? My latest For Your Consideration continues Yevgenia Belorusets' reflections on Ukraine under war in "War Diary," plus a detour into Barcelona to explore a women's life through the Spanish Civil War in Mercè Rodoreda's "The Time of Doves."
A picture of the Ukrainian writer and artist Yevgenia Belorusets with the text "War Diary by Yevgenia Belorusets. Plus, The Time of Doves by Merce Rodoreda."
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The Slavic Literature Pod @slaviclitpod.bsky.social · 08/08/2025
Out today! For your consideration: Lucky Breaks by Yevgenia Belorusets and The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien. Both collections document the stories of people in war -- in Ukraine and in Vietnam -- guiding their readers with a blend of fact and fiction.
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The Slavic Literature Pod @slaviclitpod.bsky.social · 18/07/2025
Out today! For Your Consideration: Alindarka's Children by Alhierd Bacharevič and Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko. Both novels tackle the problems of people native to a land that is now hostile to them, in one way or another.
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The Slavic Literature Pod @slaviclitpod.bsky.social · 02/07/2025
Psst -- did you miss it? A new For Your Consideration, looking back on some books that have profoundly influenced my life. We'll go from the beautiful prose of William T. Vollmann's Europe Central to complicated memories in Haruki Murakami's Norwegian Wood.
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The Slavic Literature Pod @slaviclitpod.bsky.social · 13/06/2025
Out Today: A new sub-series I'm called "For Your Consideration," solo episodes covering books I think are worth reading. We're tackling creative license on your own life in Teffi's Tolstoy, Rasputin, Others, and Me -- plus Tim O'Brien's In the Lake of the Woods.
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The Slavic Literature Pod @slaviclitpod.bsky.social · 06/06/2025
Out Today: Inessa Fishbeyn and C. D. C. Reeve joined me to talk about Marina Tsvetaeva's The Story of Sonechka. Tsvetaeva's book recalls her relationship with the actress Sonia Holliday, opening questions about memory, how we see each other, and Tsvetaeva's queer relationships.
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The Slavic Literature Pod @slaviclitpod.bsky.social · 02/05/2025
Out Today: I sat down with Dr. Vitaly Chernetsky to talk about Ukrainian writer Yuri Andrukhovych's magical realist novel The Moscoviad. We chatted about how colonized people experience imperial core, the so-called friendship of peoples, and how Andrukhovych subverts machismo.
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The Slavic Literature Pod @slaviclitpod.bsky.social · 23/04/2025
Out now: I sat down with Ainsley Morse and Bela Shayevich to talk about I Live I See, poems by Vsevolod Nekrasov that they collected and translated. Tune in to hear us talk about his minimalist, repetitious style and an unusual first: a poem delivered by snapping.
A picture of Vsevolod Nekrasov, with the text: "I Live I See by Vsevolod Nekrasov with translators Ainsley Morse and Bela Shayevich"
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Katherine Bowers 🌻 @katiabowers.bsky.social · 23/04/2025
This gofundme supports a UBC international student who is trying to finish her degree and needs some financial help to pay tuition. Please read and consider supporting! www.gofundme.com/f/help-an-in...
gofundme.com
Donate to Help an international student in need finish dream degree, organized by Maya ElHawary
Hi, my name is Maya and I am fundraising for one of the closes… Maya ElHawary needs your support for Help an international student in need finish dream degree
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The Slavic Literature Pod @slaviclitpod.bsky.social · 04/04/2025
Out Today: I sat down with Yaroslav Barsukov to talk about his book Sleeping Worlds Have No Memory. We chatted about his deployment of personal and national memory, metaphorical resurrection, and how Barsukov complicates his themes. Get it anywhere you listen to podcasts!
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The Slavic Literature Pod @slaviclitpod.bsky.social · 21/03/2025
Out today: Don your cherkeska and round up the horses, we're talking Leo Tolstoy's Hadji Murat. I sat down with Dr. Tatyana Gershkovich to chat about the book, Tolstoy's conceptions of art, and her book, Art in Doubt. Listen to the episode wherever you get your podcasts!
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The Slavic Literature Pod @slaviclitpod.bsky.social · 07/03/2025
Out today: I chatted with Baqytgul Sarmekova about her translation of Baqytgul Sarmekova's To Hell with Poets. Our conversation covers Sarmekova's portrayal of Kazakh society, how she tangles with violence and disappointment, and its tentative hopefulness.
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The Slavic Literature Pod @slaviclitpod.bsky.social · 21/02/2025
Out Today: I sat down with Philip J. Metres and Dimitri Psurtsev to chat about Arseny Tarkovsky's poems in I Burned at the Feast. Tune in to hear about his work, his relationship to Anna Akhmatova/Marina Tsvetaeva, and his relationship to his son, Andrei Tarkovsky. tinyurl.com/slaviclitpod
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The Slavic Literature Pod @slaviclitpod.bsky.social · 07/02/2025
Out today: I sat down with Dominique Hoffman to speak about Olena Stiazhkina's Cecil the Lion had to Die. The novel follows four Ukrainian families over several decades, touching on identify formation, relationships, mental health, and the war. Find it wherever you get your podcasts!
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The Slavic Literature Pod @slaviclitpod.bsky.social · 20/12/2024
Comrade Reader, As the Slavic Literature Pod nears the completion of its Gosplan-approved five year plan, we have a fairly large change to announce: Our podcast, as it was, is going on hiatus. It’s not exactly gone either, though, so let us explain.
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Katherine Bowers 🌻 @katiabowers.bsky.social · 26/11/2024
I created a thing! It is definitely missing people - if you are a person who should be on it, pls let me know! go.bsky.app/8HazBeR
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The Slavic Literature Pod @slaviclitpod.bsky.social · 14/11/2024
Me opening up Bluesky after not posting for ten months
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Chris @multiplicityct.bsky.social · 01/01/2024
Starting off the @slaviclitpod.bsky.social chapter-a-day read of Grossman’s Life and Fate. It’s right up my philosophical alley from chapter one. “Everything living is unique. […] Life dies out wherever violence tries to erase its originality and particularities.”
В большом миллионе русских деревенских изб нет и не может быть двух неразличимо схожих. Все живое — неповторимо. Немыслимо тождество двух людей, двух кустов шиповника… Жизнь глохнет там, где насилие стремится стереть ее своеобразие и особенности.
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Claire, late-stage Arctic Monkeys enjoyer @castoffcrown.bsky.social · 23/12/2023
I'm permanent-inking this in my schedule (hark at me! I do not have a schedule) for next year. I'll most likely only lurk but I want to get started already!
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The Slavic Literature Pod @slaviclitpod.bsky.social · 03/12/2023
JANUARY ON THE SLAVIC LITERATURE POD! If you're excited about what's coming, please consider supporting us this December: slaviclitpod.com/sos
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The Slavic Literature Pod @slaviclitpod.bsky.social · 01/12/2023
SAVE OUR SHOW! To help us shoulder the costs of running our show, this December we are launching the SAVE OUR SHOW pledge drive. If you love this show and want to help keep it ad-free, please consider becoming a monthly supporter on our website. slaviclitpod.com/sos
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Nancy Cooper Frank @ncooperfrank.bsky.social · 18/11/2023
Okay, count me in. Already have my yellowing 2010 edition on hand; will get the Chandler translation before January... Something for the winter season ahead
Russian edition of Vasily Grossman's Life and Fate
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The Slavic Literature Pod @slaviclitpod.bsky.social · 17/11/2023
This week, Matt and Cameron wrap up Mikhail Bulgakov’s Soviet-era masterpiece The Master and Margarita, covering chapters 26 to the epilogue. Major themes: Comedy in translation, Ivan as creative process, PG shootouts for Americans slaviclitpod.com/the-master-a...
slaviclitpod.com
The Master and Margarita (chs. 26-epilogue) by Bulgakov
Major themes: Comedy in translation, Ivan as creative process, PG shootouts for Americans
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Chris @multiplicityct.bsky.social · 01/11/2023
I’m in, this may be my one chance to make it all the way through Life and Fate.
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The Slavic Literature Pod @slaviclitpod.bsky.social · 01/11/2023
Planning on reading along with us during our Life and Fate series? Make sure to get your copy soon! For the read along, we're going to be exclusively reading from NYRB's edition translated by Robert Chandler. Don't forget to sign up for emails here: slaviclitpod.com/lifeandfate24/
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The Slavic Literature Pod @slaviclitpod.bsky.social · 27/10/2023
What are you most excited for this November on our podcast??
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The Slavic Literature Pod @slaviclitpod.bsky.social · 20/10/2023
This week, Matt and Cameron get into their tuxes for a Devil’s Ball celebrated all the way from across the skies to the distorted apartments of Moscow, covering chapters 19 through 25 of Mikhail Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita. slaviclitpod.com/the-master-a...
slaviclitpod.com
The Master and Margarita (chs. 19-25) by Bulgakov
Major themes: Eroticism as individuality, fairytales as moral clarity, alternative afterlives
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The Slavic Literature Pod @slaviclitpod.bsky.social · 13/10/2023
Our episode on the first half of Guzel Yakhina's A Volga Tale is now live! Major themes: Fairy tales, women with “K” names, justified societal shunning slaviclitpod.com/a-volga-tale...
slaviclitpod.com
A Volga Tale by Yakhina (The Wife-The Daughter)
Major themes: Fairy tales, women with “K” names, justified societal shunning
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The Slavic Literature Pod @slaviclitpod.bsky.social · 06/10/2023
We're going to space! Our episode on Andrei Tarkovsky's 1972 film Solaris is now live. Join us as we discuss some of humanity's most burning philosophical questions like: should astronauts wear leather jackets? slaviclitpod.com/solaris/
slaviclitpod.com
Solaris (1972) by Tarkovsky
Major themes: The only genre is film, ears: the road to the soul, “just be happy doing chores”
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The Slavic Literature Pod @slaviclitpod.bsky.social · 03/10/2023
Here might be a good place to mention that next year we will be running a chapter a day read along for Vasily Grossman’s Life and Fate! More info here: slaviclitpod.com/lifeandfate24
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The Slavic Literature Pod @slaviclitpod.bsky.social · 03/10/2023
Hey there, Mr...... Bluesky
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