7/8 @ 6:00pm - SPRING IN SIBERIA Reading and Signing with Artem Mozgovoy

Join North Figueroa Bookshop in welcoming Artem Mozgovoy as we celebrate the release of his debut novel Spring in Siberia. 

About the Author:

Born and raised in a small town in Central Siberia at the time when the Soviet Union was falling apart, I began my career as a cadet journalist in a local newspaper when I was sixteen; at twenty-six I was an editor-in-chief. In 2011, as Russia began legalizing its persecution of gay people, I left my homeland. Having lived in six different countries – including the United States – and worked as a movie extra, a yoga instructor, a busboy, and a magician’s assistant. Today I hold a Luxembourgish passport, write poetry and fiction in Russian and English, and with my Romanian partner live in Brussels, Belgium. (x)

About the Book:

1985. Russia. As the Soviet Union disintegrates and Western capitalism spreads its grip across their land, the Morozov family finds itself consigned to the remote, icy wastes of Siberia. It is here that their only child, Alexey, is born.

A sweet and gentle schoolboy, Alexey discovers that reciting poetry learnt by heart calms his fears. That winter gales can be battled with self-invented games, and solace found through his grandmother’s rituals and potions. But when Alexey’s classmate, the son of KGB agents, confesses his love, the desire of two boys to be together clashes violently with the mad world around them.

Exploring the healing power of literature, the magic of first love, and the ways our family and homeland can save (or shatter) us, Spring in Siberia is a coming-of-age novel that, in the darkest of times, glows with hope and the yearning for freedom to be oneself – completely.