news:
A New Yorker "Page-Turner" Book to Watch Out For
An Amazon "Best of the Month" pick for Literature and Fiction A New York Public Library Book Notes pick A Summer Reading pick by NPR’s Alan Cheuse A Grantland Recommended Reading Pick ❄ 12.01.17 "The Wolves"- A NEW STORY PUBLISHED IN TIN HOUSE!
❄ KSENIYA MELNIK WAS INTERVIEWED FOR BBC WORLD SERVICE PODCAST ABOUT VADIM KOZIN, "In Search of Vadim Kozin" (Kozin is her inspiration behind the story "Our Upstairs Neighbor")
READ THE ARTICLE HERE LISTEN TO THE PODCAST HERE ❄ SNOW IN MAY WAS CHOSEN BY THE SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE FOR THEIR BEST OF 2014: 100 RECOMMENDED BOOKS LIST
SEE THE ENTIRE LIST HERE ❄ SNOW IN MAY WAS CHOSEN BY THE MINNEAPOLIS STAR TRIBUNE FOR THEIR HOLIDAY BOOKS: THE BEST FICTION LIST
SEE THE ENTIRE LIST HERE ❄ BOOK FIGHT PODCAST HOSTS DISCUSS THE STORY "STRAWBERRY LIPSTICK" FROM SNOW IN MAY!
Fall of Failure Episode 3: Kseniya Melnik, “Strawberry Lipstick,” and Failed Dog Breeds "This week our short story comes from Kseniya Melnik, whose debut collection, Snow in May, came out this spring from Macmillan. The story we chose, “Strawberry Lipstick,” traces the increasingly troubled marriage of a young woman in 1950s Russia." LISTEN HERE ❄ SNOW IN MAY WAS SHORT-LISTED FOR 2014 INTERNATIONAL DYLAN THOMAS PRIZE!
SEE THE ENTIRE LONG-LIST HERE & READ THE GUARDIAN ARTICLE HERE ❄ KSENIYA MELNIK WAS INTERVIEWED FOR THE ARTICLE "A long-distance romance: Russia-born writers in the US" in RUSSIA BEYOND THE HEADLINES.
"Instead of navigating issues of identity, Melnik’s debut short story collection, “Snow in May” (May 2014), captures the extraordinary poetry of everyday life in the country she left behind." READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE ❄ SNOW IN MAY WAS REVIEWED IN THE NEW YORK TIMES SUNDAY BOOK REVIEW
"Kseniya Melnik’s accomplished debut collection, “Snow in May,” takes us deep into the complex fabric of Magadan, an isolated fishing and mining town in the northern reaches of Russia that once served as a transit center for prisoners dispatched to Stalin’s labor camps...These are ruminative stories in which the past constantly informs the present...lovely." READ THE FULL REVIEW HERE ❄ SNOW IN MAY WAS LONG-LISTED FOR 2014 INTERNATIONAL DYLAN THOMAS PRIZE!
SEE THE ENTIRE LONG-LIST HERE ❄ SNOW IN MAY WAS REVIEWED IN THE SEATTLE TIMES
"These stories might be inspired by a place most of us have never heard of, but they come straight from the heart." READ THE FULL REVIEW HERE ❄ NPR's ALAN CHEUSE RECOMMENDS SNOW IN MAY ON THE KOJO NNAMDI SHOW AND "ALL THINGS CONSIDERED."
"Fabulous…In beautifully narrated story after story, we get an art boutique version of something we might call "Real Housewives of Siberia" before Glasnost and after. Along with keenly composed stories, Melnik gives us beautiful images… [like] when a woman named Tonya recalls how as a young girl she sat on the bank of the Volga River and lifted up her eyes in time to see the last sunray strike a little fire on the golden cupola of a country church on the opposite bank. Although her future seemed vague, it's every mysterious facet glimmered with light and possibility. As does the literary career of wonderful new story writer, Kseniya Melnik." ❄ SNOW IN MAY WAS REVIEWED IN THE CURIOUS ANIMAL MAGAZINE
"Snow in May is one of the best short story collections I’ve ever read. Every story feels complete, a little gem. READ THE FULL REVIEW HERE ❄ SNOW IN MAY WAS REVIEWED IN THE SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
"Kseniya Melnik's debut collection is a powerful achievement... attention to detail is capable of transforming the monstrous and monotonous alike into things of beauty." READ THE FULL REVIEW HERE ❄ SNOW IN MAY WAS REVIEWED IN THE MINNEAPOLIS STAR TRIBUNE
"Melnik’s exceptional stories examine the “what-ifs” of life in a harsh, remote area... Exceptional…magical…By recollecting the past, [Melnik] has discovered a deep mine of beauty and sadness." READ THE FULL REVIEW HERE ❄ "In her first book, Melnik’s nine tender, linked stories comprise a stark mural painted against the backdrop of political change in late-twentieth-century Russia and the Soviet Union, images only a Russian could craft…It’s difficult to pick a favorite among Melnik’s striking tales."
BOOKLIST (STARRED REVIEW) ❄ SNOW IN MAY WAS LONG-LISTED FOR THE FRANK O'CONNOR INTERNATIONAL SHORT STORY AWARD-2014!
SEE THE ENTIRE LONG-LIST HERE ❄ KSENIYA MELNIK WAS MENTIONED IN THE ARTICLE "The irresistible rise of the short story" IN STELLA MAGAZINE, A SUNDAY SUPPLEMENT OF THE TELEGRAPH, AS ONE OF "FIVE NEW VOICES TO HEED"& WITH AN EXCERPT OF "STRAWBERRY LIPSTICK" FROM SNOW IN MAY
❄ SNOW IN MAY WAS CHOSEN BY THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY FOR "BOOK NOTES FROM THE UNDERGROUND: MAY 2014"
❄ SNOW IN MAY WAS CHOSEN FOR GRANTLAND'S LIST OF "MAY BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS: EIGHT WOMEN ON THE VERGE OF A BREAKTHROUGH NOVEL.."
❄ "'You can't fight destiny, but you should always try to befriend it,' says one character, while another is accused of reading 'too much Turgenev'. That's apt because, although Melnik moved to America in 1998, she's inherited her native country's literary giants' passion for soul-searching and dramatising the shared fates that bind people to places."
THE INDEPENDENT (UK) (from Short story collections: A vintage year for big ideas in taut salvoes) READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE ❄ KSENIYA WAS MENTIONED IN THE NEW YORK TIMES ARTICLE, "Using the Foreign to Grasp the Familiar: Writing in English, Novelists Find Inventive New Voices"
❄ SNOW IN MAY WAS PICKED AS ONE OF AMAZON'S BEST BOOKS OF THE MONTH IN LITERATURE & FICTION CATEGORY FOR MAY
❄ "Despite long winters and a haunting past, a remote town thrums with life....Achingly beautiful, this collection signals a writer to watch."
KIRKUS REVIEWS (STARRED REVIEW) READ THE FULL REVIEW HERE ❄ "Melnik models her debut on J.D. Salinger’s Nine Stories by creating nine slice-of-life portraits that introduce us to a series of interrelated characters living in Magdan, Russia....With dry humor and detailed description, Melnik creates a historically enlightening time capsule of an unfamiliar world."
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY READ THE FULL REVIEW HERE |