果冻影院

Boris Akunin is the pen name of Russian dissident detective novelist Gregory Chkhartishvili. A Japanese scholar by training, Chkhartishvili was made famous by his detective fiction series, starring 19th-century sleuth Erast Fandorin, which sold tens of millions of copies. But with the last Fandorin novel to be published in February 2018, Chkhartishvili has now switched to focus on his big project, The History of the Russian State. He plans to write 8 volumes of 鈥渘on-ideological鈥� history and has just finished the fifth volume, which tells the story of Peter the Great. Each volume is accompanied by a book of fiction set in the same period. Chkhartishvili is also known as a prominent critic of the Russian authorities and was one of the leaders of the 2011-12 protests in Moscow. He emigrated from Russia in 2014 in the wake of the annexation of Crimea, and now spends most of his time in France.聽

Those interested in a more informal meeting with聽the speaker before the lunchtime Press Group meeting should contact Ben Noble directly.