Fabula literary evening: Maria Stepanova – Selected Essays

The collection of essays by Maria Stepanova, one of the most powerful and distinctive voices of Russia’s first post-Soviet literary generation, consists of carefully selected texts covering two decades of work. A poet, prose writer and pioneer of independent journalism, Stepanova’s engaged writing blends formal innovation with a keen ear for linguistic nuances, giving a deep insight into key political events and social dilemmas of her time. In her essays, Stepanova explores historic upheavals, examining times of conflict and the impact they have on language, with a special focus on the crisis and political unrest in Ukraine. Interlacing personal and collective memory, this selection of essays, compiled in close collaboration with the author, focuses on the issues of loss, identity and the distortion of truth that has always accompanied war. Stepanova also reflects on the works of great literary figures, including W. G. Sebald, Marina Tsvetaeva and Susan Sontag, bringing a fresh, unique perspective to documenting social changes and wreckage. Employing a transformative literary technique, the author discusses well-known concepts from a new, unique angle, challenging us to alter our perception and broaden our understanding. 

The essay collection has been translated into Slovenian by a group of translators, the author’s selection was made exclusively for the Fabula Festival.

Born in Moscow in 1972, Maria Stepanova is a Russian poet, novelist and journalist of Jewish descent. She is the author of twelve collections of poetry and two books of essays. Her literary works have won numerous Russian and international awards, including the 1993 Znamja Literary Journal Award, 2005 Pasternak Prize and the Andrei Bely Prize, the 2006 Hubert Burda Prize, and the 2023 Leipzig Book Award for European Understanding. Her poems have been translated into many languages. Stepanova is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of a major platform for independent journalism, COLTA.RU. She lives in exile in Germany.

The talk will take place in English, with simultaneous translation into Slovenian.