Beyond the Mother Tongue: Interview with Kristina Gorcheva-Newberry followed by Q&A and OPEN MIC poetry recitations

Creative writing in foreign languages, also known as exophony or translingualism, has been practised since time immemorial. However, in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, it multiplied and intensified as a consequence of patterns of migration, changing demographics and the rise of English as a global language. What challenges do writers and poets face when working in a foreign tongue? Does the language of writing shape an author's artistic identity or connect them to a specific literary tradition? With English as the lingua franca, should authors strive to emulate native speakers, or is the "New" English literature becoming the new normal? Kristina Gorcheva-Newberry, a rising star in the American literary scene, will address these and other questions in a conversation with our Culture Officer Artemii Levkoy, followed by Q&A, a book signing session, and an Open Mic featuring original poetry recitations in English and Russian. Kristina was born in Armenia and raised in Soviet Russia. She moved to the USA in 1995, after having witnessed perestroika and the fall of the Iron Curtain. Writing in English, her second language, Kristina has published fifty stories and received ten Pushcart prize nominations. She is the winner of the Raz/Shumaker Prairie Schooner Book Prize in Fiction for her debut collection of stories, What Isn't Remembered, long-listed for the 2022 PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize and shortlisted for the 2022 William Saroyan International Prize. Her first novel Between Dog and Wolf, published to rapturous reviews in the USA as The Orchard, captures the lives of four Soviet teenagers who are about to lose their country and one another, and who struggle to survive, to save their friendship, to recover all that has been left behind. For reviews and more information about the book, see https://theindigopress.com/product/between-dog-and-wolf-paperback/ You can pre-order the book when purchasing the entry ticket and have it personally signed by the author at the event. In the latter part of the evening, we will enjoy an Open Mic session featuring poetry recitations in English and Russian. All performing participants are granted free admission, and the most outstanding poet, as determined by our esteemed guest, will be awarded a copy of Kristina's book. To sign up for the Open Mic, kindly complete the Google Form: https://forms.gle/PdZxWLSRVATybeXu6. Yours, Oxford New Russian Society