BFL8 - The Good Russian - Jana Bakunina

What does it mean to be Russian today? What happens when your homeland becomes unrecognisable? What hope is there when voices of conscience are silenced by dictatorship? In the grand humane tradition of dissident writers, Jana Bakunina goes beyond Moscow’s cynically rehearsed narratives, to reveal the impossible choices facing ordinary Russians today. Her search for the country and the people she loves, reveals what it means to live through authoritarianism and war.    

In conversation with James Long

‘Perceptive, humane, and insightful.’ Howard Amos, author of Russia Starts Here

Jana Bakunina came to Britain in 1999 to study at Oxford University. She has written for numerous publications including the Financial Times, New Statesman, The London Standard, Sifted and the Spectator. Her fiction was shortlisted for the 2022 Bridport Prize, she was finalist for the 2022 London Independent Short Story Prize and in 2023 came second in the Olga Sinclair Prize. She lives in London. 

Sponsored by The Norie Trust