Identity puzzles by Igor Pomerantsev
Date and time:
Wednesday 10 January, 2018
19:00 - 20:30
Location:
Ukrainian Institute London
79 Holland Park
London
W11 3SW
Igor Pomerantsev, a well-known poet, journalist, and former Soviet dissident, will offer his interpretation of the post-Maidan transformation of Ukraine's identity. The talk will touch upon the issues of recovering lost memories, re-discover lost cultural and physical spaces of complex multi-ethnic cities like his native Chernivtsi, the intersection of different cultures, the role of language in identity-building.
He will be joined by his son Peter Pomerantsev, author of the prize-winning "Nothing is True and Everything is Possible" and currently a Senior Fellow at the LSE's Institute for Global Affairs. Peter will offer his view on the cultural transformation inside Ukraine, informed by his London background.
Moderated by Marina Pesenti, Director of Ukrainian Institute London.
This event will be held in English.
FREE
Speaker
Igor Pomerantsev
Igor Pomerantsev was born in Saratov, USSR, in 1948. He studied English philology and pedagogy at the University of Chernovtsy (Czernowitz). His poetry was first published in 1972 in "Smena". At this time he also became involved with the Ukrainian civil rights movement. In 1976 he was arrested by the KGB, accused of distributing anti-Soviet literature and listening to "enemy" radio stations. In 1977, he was officially encouraged to emigrate, the next year he left with his wife and ten-month-old son for Germany. In 1979, he moved to London to work for the BBC. He later lived in Munich, producing the Russian-language culture program "Over the Barriers" for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. He contributes towards "Zeitzug" literary magazine and is one of the founding members of the Meridian Czernowitz International Poetry Festival.
Speaker
Peter Pomerantsev
Peter Pomerantsev is an author and TV producer. He specialises in propaganda and media development and has testified on the challenges of information war to the US House Foreign Affairs Committee, US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and the UK Parliament Defence Select Committee. He writes for publications including the Financial Times, Politico, Atlantic, and many others. His book on Russian propaganda, Nothing is True and Everything is Possible, won the 2016 Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize.
