ABOUT ME.
I've lived several professional lives: a concert pianist in the classical tradition, then an accompanist and a liturgical pianist for many years; a professor of religious studies; a medical interpreter; briefly a soldier, and more. I've loved many places and many people, and still today I love them all. I've explored many forms of art from dance to chamber vocals, from woodburning to nature photography. I grew up in the breathtaking expanses of St. Petersburg and then, in the bad year 1991, fell into the warm arms of Media, PA. It has been since then my hometown. Somewhere along my winding path I've lost almost everything I'd started out my life with, except my family and my love for words, though the words I write today are in English, the language that is as illogical and mind-boggling as Russian but entirely different; the language I never tire of adoring and trying on for size and teasing and stretching and stroking and hearing it purr.
EDUCATION
MFA in creative writing, Emerson College Master of Theological Studies, Harvard Divinity School Bachelor of Arts in Humanities, Rosemont College Associate of Science in Natural Sciences, DCCC Rimsky-Korsakov Music College of Leningrad State Conservatory PUBLICATIONS
books: THE LIGHT OF SEVEN DAYS, a novel (Delphinium Books / HarperCollins; 2023). THERE MUST BE YOU: Leonard Swidler's journey to faith and dialogue (Eugene, OR: Resource Publications; 2014). periodicals: FICTION: "I Am Cunigunde." New Ohio Review. Forthcoming 2023. "Lucky." Post Road 40 February 2023. "Whence We Sprang." BOMB Magazine (January 26, 2023). “The Borde Syndrome.” Arkansas Review 51 2 (August 2020): 134 – 141. “Antipode.” The Common 17 (Spring 2019): 178 – 190. “The Mongrel Gods of Thebes, Nevada.” The Long Story 36 (2018): 115 – 132. “I Dream of Red.” Luna Luna 10/2016 (Halloween issue). “A Plate for Elijah.” Rathalla Review Fall 2013: 5-8. “She Will Be Rose.” Crosstimbers 12 1 (2012): 4-5. “The Long Midnight.” The Long Story 29 (2011): 37-51. “Pearl.” RiverSedge 23 2 (Fall 2010): 93-97. “Of Light and Weightlessness.” The MacGuffin. XXVI 2 (Winter 2010): 49-53. “Emmama, Esa.” The Evansville Review XIX (2009): 68-72. “Intersection.” Quiddity International Literary Journal 2 1 (2009): 13-15. “Put Your Hands Together, Mr. Walsh and Other Children.” In Out of Line: Fiction, Poetry, Essays on Themes of Peace and Justice. Edited by Hemminger, Bill. Evansville, IN: The Press at Patchwork; 2009: 67-73. “Emmama, Esa.” descant 2009: 16-19. “Paradise Had.” Phoebe (Oneonta): Journal of Gender and Cultural Critiques. 20 1 (Spr 2008): 69–72. “A Voice in the Room.” Workers Write! Tales from the Clinic 2008: 87-92. CREATIVE NONFICTION: “Conduit.” Bellevue Literary Review 38 (Spring 2020): 102 – 109. “The Thorny Path: A Russian in America, a Catholic Jew.” Commonweal. February 22, 2013. “In the Words of the Beholder.” Crosstimbers 12 1 (2012): 54-55. POETRY: “A season of in-between” Mad Poets Review 2008: 46. |