L.A.’s own Janet Fitch, the mega-bestselling author of White Oleander and Paint It Black, returns to ALOUD with her newest work, a sweeping historical saga of the Russian Revolution. Beginning on New Year’s Eve in 1916 St. Petersburg, The Revolution of Marina M. follows the mesmerizing coming-of-age story of a young woman of privilege who aches to break free of the constraints of her genteel life, a life about to be violently upended by the vast forces of history. Joining Fitch to discuss this epic journey through some of the most dramatic events of the last century is Boris Dralyuk, a Russian literature scholar and executive editor of the Los Angeles Review of Books, who helped Fitch with the Russian translations for her book.
Janet Fitch‘s a first novel, White Oleander, a #1 bestseller and Oprah’s Book Club selection, has been translated into 24 languages and was made into a feature film. Her most recent novel, Paint It Black, hit bestseller lists across the country and has also been made into a film. She lives in Los Angeles and is currently working on the second part of Marina’s story.
Boris Dralyuk is the Executive Editor of the Los Angeles Review of Books. He holds a Ph.D. from UCLA and has taught Russian literature there and at the University of St Andrews. His work has appeared in the TLS, The New Yorker, London Review of Books, The Guardian, and other publications. His recent translations include Isaac Babel’s Red Cavalry and Odessa Stories. He is the editor of 1917: Stories and Poems from the Russian Revolution, and co-editor, with Robert Chandler and Irina Mashinski, of The Penguin Book of Russian Poetry.
