Join Pushkin House for an evening with Hamid Ismailov and Anna Aslanyan to explore Uzbek culture and literature via Ismailov's latest novel, Of Strangers and Bees (translated by Shelley Fairweather-Vega).
Hamid Ismailov is an award-winning writer and journalist whose works are banned in Uzbekistan. In his novels, he explores Central Asian and (post-) Soviet culture. Following the acclaimed The Devils' Dance, Of Strangers and Bees is Hamid Ismailov's latest masterpiece, combining traditional oral storytelling with contemporary global fiction to create a modern Sufi parable about the search for truth and wisdom: Uzbek writer Sheikhov is convinced that the medieval polymath Avicenna still lives, condemned to roam the world. Avicenna appears in various incarnations, across the ages, from Ottoman Turkey to medieval Germany and Renaissance Italy. Sheikhov plies the same route, though his troubles are distinctly modern as he endures the petty humiliations of exile.
Ismailov will discuss exile, Avicenna, and much more with journalist, writer and translator Anna Aslanyan. Anna Aslanyan is a freelance journalist and translator. She writes for the London Review of Books, the Times Literary Supplement and other publications, mainly about books and arts. Her popular history of translation will be published by Profile in 2020.