Russian literary scholars Ivan Akhmetev and Tatiana Neshumova will give a series of free lectures at the UO covering themes in Russian literature, including  government suppression of literature in the Soviet Union, the life and works of influential Russian poets and the effects of a totalitarian society on literature.

The three lectures will be in the Knight Library Browsing Room at 4 p.m. Friday, Oct. 3; Wednesday, Oct. 8; and Friday, Oct. 10. The lectures will be presented in Russian with English translation.

The event is free and open to all members of the public, and an open discussion will take place after each lecture.

Akhmetev is a physicist-turned-poet who became a political dissident in the 1970s. In 2013, Akhmetev was awarded the Andrei Bely Prize for “outstanding services to the Russian literature."

Neshumova is a Moscow-based poet and literary scholar. Most of her work comes from the reconstruction of biographies, personal archives and literary events.

“I realized that I, too, live in history, and if I do not make any personal efforts to record today’s events, then much can be lost tomorrow,” Neshumova said when describing her work, adding, “I revive their histories so they are not washed away like sandcastles.”

―By Nathan Stevens, Public Affairs Communications intern