Sonoma Community Writers Festival

On By Olga ZilberbourgIn Book panel, Event, Like Water, Newsletter, Readings3 Comments

Bay Area Folk — on Thursday, April 4, I’ll be participating in a community writers festival at a university about an hour and a half north of San Francisco. An event organized by the wonderful fiction writer Miah Jeffra and his students, this will be an afternoon and evening program of readings and panels on writers’ craft and the publishing industry. Take a look at the full schedule.

At 5:20 pm, I will be moderating a panel “From a Reader to a Critic” about book reviewing.

At 7 pm, I will appear with my fellow writers published by WTAW Press and will read a story (or two) from LIKE WATER AND OTHER STORIES.

No need to register in advance. Show up if you’re able to! There will also be a book fair: a great opportunity talk to small presses, mags, schools, and buy your next favorite book.

Folks who are far away: When I travel to Sonoma, I always think of Jack London and The Valley of the Moon. There’s a park and a museum where London built his dream house before it burned down. The estate is quite a magical place, down to the warnings “beware of mountain lions.” Of course, so many newer books have been written about those parts, and it is only my Soviet childhood that makes me partial to London. How many of my US-born friends read his Hearts of the Three or even his masterpiece Martin Eden? Back when I was at Narrative Magazine, I had a lot of fun helping to put an excerpt from Martin Eden novel online. Go there for your notes on publishing industry!

Love, Olga

SF Public Library Reading and Recent Publications

On By Olga ZilberbourgIn Newsletter8 Comments

It’s still January, and so not too late, in my book, to wish you all a happy New Year. For those of you in San Francisco Bay Area, my first event of the year is coming up this Saturday, February 3. Come to the Main branch of the SF public library at 2 pm.

I will be reading an excerpt from my novel-in-progress set in Leningrad in the year 1990. This event called “A Sense of Place” is organized by my friend Beverly Parayno, whose collection of stories WILDFLOWERS it was my pleasure to blurb. I’ll be reading alongside Beverly herself, Toni Mirosevich, and Norman Zelaya. I’m delighted to meet these acclaimed writers in person and to hear their stories of the Bay Area and beyond.

In the past few months, I have published two stories. One, a brand new fiction “Make Peace with the Cake” — about an ex-Soviet immigrant parent coping with the post-COVID, war-time social tensions and her own anxieties — appears in the Museum of Americana, a magazine that has generously published 1, 2, 3 of my earlier stories.

Another piece, “Sweet Dreams,” is an older story that remains important to me for personal, creative, and political reasons. It was first published circa 2010 in an issue of Mad Hatters’ Review and has now been brought back online by the Bulb Culture Collective, a magazine that gives home to stories that first appeared in now defunct online magazines. What a noble quest! I certainly have more work to send their way.

Last but not least, the service that I have been using to send out my newsletter (TinyLetter) is being discontinued, so I’m attempting to use my website provider (WordPress) for these emails. Those of you who are already subscribing to my website may have already seen some of this information. Please let me know if you encounter any other technical issues.

Sweet Dreams

On By Olga ZilberbourgIn short storyLeave a comment

“Having reached the age of 55, my mother has decided to try out retirement. She won’t stop working—there are no opportunities for advancement in that—but she’s decided to branch out and sign up for an advanced English class after work. Her older sister is taking the same class, and my mother can’t let her sister surpass her at anything. This week, their teacher assigned them a few song lyrics to translate. My mother, determined to be an A-student, messages me for help. . . .”

Continue reading this story on Bulb Culture Collective.

It’s an older piece that was first published in Mad Hatters’ Review 12: Back from the USSR, edited by Alex Cigale and Mariya Gusev. I remain deeply grateful to the editors for taking my piece and for assembling that folio that introduced me to many fellow ex-Soviet authors I have been following ever since.

Bulb Culture Collective is a wonderful venue that gives a second life to the previously published stories and poems from online magazines that do not longer exist. I love seeing this story back online.

Make Peace with the Cake in the Museum of Americana

On By Olga ZilberbourgIn Publication, short storyLeave a comment

I’m grateful to my friends at the Museum of Americana for publishing my story, “Make Peace with the Cake” in their Food Court section. Huge thanks to Lauren Alwan for editing!

Our Leo was six or seven weeks old when we received advice from fellow Russians, as we came to call ourselves after twenty years in the US. They had two kids in elementary school and when they shared their parenting philosophy, Sioma and I listened.

“We don’t do kids birthday parties,” they said. 

Birthday parties were a giant waste of time, they said. Treated as mandatory by middle-class Bay Area parents, no matter the racial or ethnic background, these utrenniki were all alike: a bouncy house at a playground, pizza, cake. One couldn’t drop the children off but had to hang out and talk to the adults. If you couldn’t sustain a conversation about baseball scores or local politics, forget it. “Remember how it was back home?” the dad asked.

TO CONTINUE READING: https://themuseumofamericana.net/2023/11/07/americana-stories-the-food-court-fiction-2/

**POSTPONED** A Sense of Place Panel at the San Francisco Public Library

On By Olga ZilberbourgIn Event, ReadingsLeave a comment

Update: This event has been postponed. I’m standing by for the new date.

I’m delighted to join a panel of writers I admire in a reading that will take place on Saturday, November 4 at the San Francisco Public Library.

Details:
Saturday, November 4, 2 pm
African American Center, 3rd Floor
Main Library, 100 Larkin Street, San Francisco

Lit Crawl: Building Community in the Face of War

On By Olga ZilberbourgIn EventLeave a comment

Bay Area friends — come out to our Lit Crawl event on Saturday, October 21, 5 pm at 518 Valencia.

This event was a long time in the making. As Ukraine approaches its 600th day of defending its sovereignty against Russia’s assault, it remains paramount to continue to tell our stories and to refute the propaganda narratives that are festering in the social media spaces.

I’m really looking forward to hearing the poems, stories, personal essays and more from this group of Bay Area writers with deep personal connections to both Ukraine and Russia.

Lit Crawl is a part of San Francisco’s Litquake festival going on right now. Make sure to check out the full program and to participate in other events. It’s an amazing experience!

Natalia Malachowskaja’s fiction on Punctured Lines

On By Olga ZilberbourgIn Book review, short story, TranslationLeave a comment

Publishing this story on Punctured Lines is one of the top highlights of my career as an editor so far. This publication was many years in the making. Many of my friends know Malachowskaja’s name well: she is legendary in the Soviet feminist community as one of the founders of a samizdat magazine Woman and Russia. As a result of this publication Malachowskaja, together with her fellow co-founders, was exiled from the USSR back in 1980. She has settled in Austria and has been writing and publishing books of fiction and non-fiction as well as participating in the art scene.

I believe this is her first work of fiction published in the English translation. The story, written in 2000s, fictionalizes some of her experiences from the 1970s that stood behind her feminist work. Don’t miss!

Ugrinovich and the Sex Giant: Fiction by Anna Natalia Malachowskaja, translated by Anastasia Savenko-Moore

San Francisco Writers Workshop Presents: Lit Crawl Reading

On By Olga ZilberbourgIn EventLeave a comment

San Francisco Writers Workshop is proud to participate in San Francisco’s Lit Crawl 2023 festival. For more than eight decades, this free, drop-in critique group has met weekly, nurturing a wide range of local authors. Come hear from the recent participants at our home base!

Event details:
October 21, 5 pm
Noisebridge, 272 Capp Street

Originally from the North of England, Jo Beckett-King is a writer and translator currently based in San Francisco. Her fiction has been short- or longlisted for the UK’s Bridport Prize, the Bristol Short Story Prize, and the Bath Children’s Novel Award. She is represented by Elise Howard at DeFiore & Company.

Tahirah Nailah Dean is a lawyer by day and writer by night. She writes about the difficulties of finding love and marriage from the perspective of a Muslim woman. Her work has appeared in Al Jazeera and Insider. She is a recipient of the 2023 Hurston/Wright Fellowship and winner of the 2021 MFest Short-Story Competition. Tahirah is currently working on a novel.

Cynthia Gómez writes feminist anti-capitalist horror and speculative fiction. Her work has been published in Strange Horizons, Fantasy Magazine, and elsewhere. Her collection, “The Nightmare Box and Other Stories,” will be published by Dread Stone Press in summer 2023.

Mike Karpa’s short fiction and memoir has appeared in Tin House, Tahoma Literary Review, Oyster River Pages and Foglifter Journal. His first novel Criminals was a Kirkus Reviews Best Book of 2022. His new novel, The Wealthy Whites of Williamsburg, won best gay book at the 2023 SF Book Festival.

Graham Smith built a solar-powered car in a locomotive shop and once traveled to an uninhabited island just to get some eggs. He was dredged, like an ancient bicycle, from the mud of the Upper Mississippi and continues to roll on through the hinterlands of San Francisco Bay.

Joel Streicker’s stories have been published widely. Recent winner of Cutthroat Magazine’s and Blood Orange Review’s fiction contests, he has also published poetry and nonfiction in English and Spanish. His translations of such writers as Samanta Schweblin, Mariana Enríquez, and Pilar Quintana have appeared in numerous journals.

Jason Tan graduated from St. Olaf college with a degree in Latin and Asian Studies. He writes primarily fantastical novels about people who are trying to figure out the rest of their lives. He lives in San Francisco.

Reading at Poesia Cafe

On By Olga ZilberbourgIn Uncategorized1 Comment

Seen from the porch of Poesia Cafe, San Francisco is at its most vibrant and beautiful. Located in the middle of the Castro neighborhood, the cafe does brisk business and also manages to sustain a lovely, languid vibe, as though nobody there ever needs to rush to get anywhere and can while away entire afternoons reading and people watching. I am so happy to be a part of the reading here on October 4th!

There will be stories and pastries and wine. Don’t miss!

October 4th, 7 pm, Poesia cafe, 4072 18th Street.

Michael Alenyikov is the author of IVAN AND MISHA, winner of the Northern CA Book Award and a Finalist for the Edmund White Award for Debut Fiction. His novella collection, SORROW’S DRIVE, appeared in 2022. He’s led the 18th St Writing Group for many years. Alenyikov is a NYC native and a longtime resident of San Francisco.

Anna Mantzaris is a San Francisco-based writer. Her work has appeared in Ambit, The Cortland Review, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, Necessary Fiction, New World Writing, Sonora Review, and elsewhere. Her fiction chapbook OCCUPATIONS is forthcoming from Galileo Press. 

Richard May has published four short story collections: Because of Roses, Gay All Year, Inhuman Beings, and Ginger Snaps: Photos & Stories (with photographer David Sweet). His short fiction has been published in numerous anthologies and magazines. He organizes the monthly reading series Odd Mondays in San Francisco and is a member of the 18th Street Writers and the Bay Area Queer Writers Association. Find Rick on Instagram at richard.may1313 and Facebook at richardmaywriter, where he publishes a daily story photo or visual that inspires him to write, with the first few lines of the story included.

Sasha Vasilyuk is a journalist and author of a debut novel YOUR PRESENCE IS MANDATORY (Bloomsbury, April 2024) to be published in the U.S., Canada, Italy, Germany, France, Finland and Brazil. She has written for The New York Times, TIME, Los Angeles Times, Harper’s Bazaar, NBC, USA Today, Narrative, and others.

Olga Zilberbourg is the author of LIKE WATER AND OTHER STORIES (WTAW Press) and four Russian-language story collections. She has published fiction and essays in Electric Literature, Lit Hub, Narrative, Alaska Quarterly Review, Confrontation, Scoundrel Time, and elsewhere. She co-edits Punctured Lines, a feminist blog on post-Soviet and diaspora literatures, and co-hosts the San Francisco Writers Workshop.

An Interview in The Isthmus

On By Olga ZilberbourgIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

I gave an interview (conducted on Instagram!!) for a cool newsletter, The Isthmus, “dedicated to world literature and gaining a broader perspective on the literary arts.”

The word “Isthmus” attracted my attention first. I grew up on one, and I feel a strong pull of curiosity when I see the word used out there. It’s an archipelagic word, of a kind that allow us to remap the globe through its waterways. I was very happy to see this newsletter emerge, “dedicated to world literature and gaining a broader perspective on the literary arts.”

Thanks to Christian Smith for asking great questions and allowing me space to gush a bit about some of my favorite translators… Read the full conversation here (and subscribe for more!): https://theisthmus.substack.com/p/interview-olga-zilberbourg