Noir Press News
The Ukrainian Institute in Holland Park, London, was the prestigious venue for the UK launch of the Ukrainian-Lithuanian writer Jaroslavas Melnikas' first book in English, 'The Last Day'.
After a short introduction from the Lithuanian Cultural Attached, Juste Kostikovaite, the evening was kicked off by director of the Ukrainian Institute, Marina Pesanti.
Jaroslavas Melnikas was in conversation with ex-BBC Ukraine journalist and writer Svitlana Pyrkalo.
Jaroslavas Melnikas, award winning author of 'The Last Day' launched the collection of stories at this year's Lowdham Book Festival.
To a large audience, Melnikas spoke about the genesis of his stories and particularly how he came to write in Lithuanian, having gone to live in Lithuania when he met his wife.
Melnikas told of how one critic called him ironically, 'The Son of Stalin'. In some ways, he explained, that was true. His parents were both exiled to Siberia during the repressive Soviet crack down on nationalists in the Ukraine after the Second World War. It was in the gulag that his parents met. Fatefully, if Stalin had not exiled them, Melnikas may not have come into the world. Fate places an important role in his writing.
It was nice to get some more photos of the Jam Cafe launch from Nottingham photographer Kevin Davis. You can view his blog by clicking here.
It was also lovely to get a write up about the event from ace Nottingham book blogger Jade Moore.
“ So what the book Shtetl Love Song does is conserve the memory of the Jewish towns and of the world that existed before the war. It’s certainly opened my eyes, as before I read it I didn’t know what a ‘Shtetl’ was or that such a thing ever existed. ”
Great Launch at Jam Cafe for 'Shtetl Love Song'. The cafe was full and buzzing on a cold November Sunday afternoon and the music of Howard Coleman on guitar and Stella Chadwick on violin really helped to create the feeling of the shtetl.
All photos by Le Dinh Han
Jam Cafe launch
Both Howard and Stella generously donated their time and talents to raise money for the National Holocaust Centre and £70 was raised in donations.
The Nottingham launch for 'Shtetl Love Song' will be at Jam Cafe, in Hockley, 3pm Sunday 19th November.
Music, reading and talks in the relaxed atmosphere of a lovely central Nottingham cafe.
Books available for sale. Free entry.
Lukas Geniušas, silver medallist 2010 Chopin Piano Competition and 2015 Tchaikovsky Competition
Noir Press and Spiro Ark are delighted to announce that Lukas Geniušas, silver medallist 2010 Chopin Piano Competition and 2015 Tchaikovsky Competition, will give a guest performance at the London launch of Grigory Kanovich's novel, 'Shtetl Love Song'.
Lukas Geniušas is a Russian-Lithuanian pianist. Geniušas began to study piano at the age of five, and in 1996 he entered the Moscow Frederic Chopin College of Music Performing.
He studied piano with professor Vera Gornostayeva at the Moscow State Conservatory. Since 2004, he has received the M. Rostropovich Foundation scholarship.
He started to perform in public in 1996, and since that time he performed with various orchestras in the best venues of Moscow, St. Peterburg, Vilnius, Wroclaw and Hamburg. He arranged solo appearances in Russia, Poland, Sweden, Germany, France, Switzerland, Lithuania and Austria
[Text from Wikipedia]
Lukas Geniušas, laureat II nagrody Etap III Etiuda c-moll op. 25 nr 12 Lukas Geniušas, second prize winner Third stage Etude in C minor, Op. 25 No. 12 All rights reserved 2010 The Fryderyk Chopin Institute (NIFC), Polish Television (TVP), National Audiovisual Institute (NInA)
The London launch for 'Shtetl Love Song' will feature music and readings and a talk by Sergey Kanovich, the author's son, who runs an award-winning NGO 'Lost Shtetl' in Lithuania.
29th November at the Central Synagogue
36-40 Hallam St, Marylebone, London W1W 6NW
For further information and tickets contact Spiro Ark.
'Noir Press,' writes Will Mawhood in The Calvert Journal, 'is perhaps the most encouraging development of recent years for those interested in Lithuania and its fiction.'
Of Laura Sintija Cerniauskaite's novel he writes, 'it is dense: crammed with wild, haunting imagery; impulses and yearnings that break the surface suddenly; relationships past and present that glance off and mirror each other.'
To read the full article:
https://www.calvertjournal.com/articles/show/9044/baltic-literature-the-best-contemporary-fiction-to-add-to-your-reading-list
Noir Press is delighted to have signed up Lithuanian-Ukrainian writer Jaroslavas Melnikas as part of its 2018 list.
Melnikas is an award winning novelist not only in Lithuania but also in his native Ukraine. His novels and essays have also been published in French. Melnikas graduated from Lviv University and did his postgraduate studies at Maxim Gorky Literature Institute in Moscow. He worked as a magazine writer for Elle magazine.
Melnikas's books have been among the Lithuanian and Ukrainian books of the year a number of times, the book Kelias į rojų (The Road to Paradise) was nominated for the Europe Book Prize, and his novel Distant Space won BBC Book of the Year in 2013. His book, The Paris Diary (2013) became a bestseller in Lithuania.
First review in for The Easiest by Rasa Askinyte calls it a 'dark, deeply analytical' novel.
Writing for The LeftLion magazine, literature editor L.P. Mills wrote that The Easiest. was a 'dark, deeply analytical take on the naivety that characterises romance novels'.
'Aškinytė’s novel plays with a light-hearted, oftentimes playful tone, in spite of an occasionally deadpan attitude towards violence,' L. P. Mills writes.
'The Easiest marks Noir Press’ second publication, with it and its predecessor Breathing into Marble by Laura Sintija Cerniauskaite forming parts one and two of a four-part series of Lithuanian fiction released by the press. The next two novels, The Music Teacher by Renata Šerelytė and Shtetl Love Song by Grigory Kanovich, are due to be released later this year.'
