Russian Lessons Ripol Classic, Moscow, 2016 The main character Svetlana Lapteva, enchanted with the story of Russian lessons given to Ludvig Wittgenstein by a certain Fanya Pascal in Cambridge, and encouraged by her friends of the International Women club, decides to give Russian language lessons in Paris. Very quickly, Svetlana’s innocent, occasional hobby grows into…
journalism
I have participated in various media projects from new magazine launches to several international publishing assignments including GEO, Russian Reporter, Rolling Stone, “Aeroflot Premium” and Forbes. I have worked with two popular Russian radio stations: as an interviewer with “Радио России” and managed a marketing campaign with “Русское радио”. Prior to this I was s…
children stories
I strongly believe that children’s books are the most important reading one has in life, with the exception of the classics (though even the classics can appear on a children’s bookshelf from time to time). Never dusty, children’s books are made to be read, re-read, cherished and shared whatever the reader’s age. Needless to say,…
comic books
I must confess, I discovered the magic spell of comics very late, thanks to my own children. Before this, the culture of comic books was incomprehensible for me. I plunged into several graphic novels, then watched comic films and finally participated in creating a graphic novel myself. It was fantastic experience and I am very…
story telling
There is a paradox about this ocean of information we are floating in nowadays: on the one hand, story-telling becomes more and more popular in the business world, on the other, less and less children are able to tell stories. It’s even not about inventing new stories. Simply telling the story from a film they…
translations
Yes, yes, we all heard at least once this magical phrase: “choose a job you love and you will never have to work”. It’s often attributed to Confucius (thanks to an American journalist in 1980s who started the legend) – but I have a doubt, after all, Confucius lived in the era where your choice…
poetry
What is written with rhythm and rhyme locked in a column is usually called poetry even if it lacks any aesthetic qualities at all, and what looks like a page thickly covered with text is usually called prose, though it can be so beautiful that you remember it by heart. Poetry is a tricky thing…
teaching
Svetlana, the main character of my first novel, is a teacher. To develop her, I used many of my own experiences in different educational systems around the world. However the funniest and most touching stories in Svetlana’s biography are the memories I collected from other teachers: during our staff room coffee breaks (which are more…
Elena Devos 