Writing

I write fiction and essays, in English, often about characters whose lives are in flux in terms of culture, language, and gender.

Some of my work, in both English and Russian, appeared in the early 2000s in the no-longer-active Irkutsk-based zine The New Review, which I co-edited with colleagues from Britain and Germany and which was conceived of as a cultural bridge between Siberia and the West.

In 2006, my collection of short essays Sottisier was long-listed for the Debut Prize, which is awarded annually to young authors writing in Russian.

Selected Publications

“Queer Russians in the American College Classroom” in: Diversity and Decolonization in Teaching Russian Studies, edited by Thomas Jesús Garza and Rachel Stauffer (Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan, 2025), pp. 179-192 (doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-90694-7_8).

“Speak, AI: A Conversation about Publishing, AI-Narrated Audiobooks, and Vladimir Nabokov,” with José Vergara and Hannah Brooks-Motl, ASEEES NewsNet, September 16, 2024.

“Queer Nabokov,” essay, September 11, 2023, Slavic Literature Pod.

“Signs and Symbols,” podcast with José Vergara, Matt Gerasimovich, and Cameron Lallana, September 8, 2023, Slavic Literature Pod.

“Кому нужна квир-теория?” (“Who Needs Queer Theory?”), April 28, 2023, Parni Plus (in Russian).

“Lost in Transition: Can Inclusivity Cross a Language Barrier?” January 5, 2021, Blog of Los Angeles Review of Books.

“On Silence,” October 21, 2020, Ploughshares Blog.

“In Memory of the Beaches of Siberia,” Spring 2020, Tint Journal.

“Счастье” (“Happiness”), December 2006, Oktiabr’ magazine (Moscow, Russia) (in Russian).