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puncturedlines.bsky.social
Punctured Lines
@puncturedlines.bsky.social
140 followers 180 following 43 posts
Post-Soviet Literature in and outside the Former Soviet Union. Blog by Yelena Furman @yelenafurman.bsky.social and Olga Zilberbourg @olgaz.bsky.social http://puncturedlines.com
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Punctured Lines @puncturedlines.bsky.social · 15d
Don't miss @kristinaten.bsky.social on the blog with an essay about nostalgia, complex geographies, & the inspiration for her speculative collection TELL ME YOURS, I'LL TELL YOU MINE. Stillhouse Press, October 7, 2025--preorder!
#BookSky #speculativefiction

puncturedlines.com/2025/09/16/w...
Top: Punctured Lines logo with black letters over white background and red stripes across. Left: The title of an essay: We Have to Go Back: Speculative Fiction, Nostalgia, and the Ghosts of Bookshelves Past, Guest Essay by Kristina Ten Right: Picture of a yellow book cover with pink lettering words on a page: I have a tricky relationship with nostalgia. It’s a complicated thing when you’re a child of empire, more complicated when you’re a child of two. I was born in Moscow to a mother with Siberian roots and a father with Georgian roots, whose own father was one of many Soviet Koreans living on Sakhalin Island before being forcibly deported, under Stalin’s regime, in cattle cars to rural Kazakhstan and other parts of Central Asia (my grandfather was the only one of his siblings to survive this displacement). After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, my parents and I moved to the United States. I grew up in Arizona, then New York, going to summer camp and raising Neopets and marveling at the novelty of AOL Instant Messenger, and I didn’t give much thought then to all the things I write about now: empire, patriarchy, all the terrifying ways a repressive state can assert its power. These days, it seems as though I think of little else. Which isn’t to say I’m immune to nostal words on a page: This species of nostalgia relies on a warped glorification of the past, with aims to influence the future. In Russia, it might look like Putin’s reinstatement of the Soviet national anthem in 2000; or, in more recent years, the steady reinstallation of monuments to Joseph Stalin throughout the country, monuments which had been systematically removed starting in the 1950s with the de-Stalinization reforms. In the States, it might look like a longing to return to “simpler, better times,” which, on its face, recalls some idyllic bygone era when it was socially acceptable to ride your bike to a friend’s house without calling first, to knock on their door, ask them to come out and play—and who doesn’t want that? But beneath this rosy vision often churns an undercurrent of traditional values about marriage, childrearing, and the nuclear family, along with anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment. “Back in my day, we would…” “Back in my day, we wouldn’t…” Remember the “good times,” these his Top: Punctured Lines logo, black letters on a white background with red stripes. Left: Read Kristina Ten's Guest Essay on Punctured Lines Pre-Order TELL ME YOURS I"LL TELL YOU MINE from Stillhouse Press Right: Yellow book cover with pink lettering
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puncturedlines.bsky.social
Punctured Lines @puncturedlines.bsky.social · 1d
With Mirgul Kali, Yuliya Ilchuk, Elana Gomel @mor1233.bsky.social, Evgeniya Dame, Maggie Levantovskaya, Dmitri Manin @dmanin.bsky.social, Margarita Meklina, Yuliya Patsay, @sashavasilyuk.bsky.social, and Olga Zilberbourg @olgaz.bsky.social
Full event description: puncturedlines.com/2025/10/09/o...
Owning Fear, Reaching for Freedom: Post-Soviet Writers + Translators Speak Out
Dear Punctured Lines community — please help us spread the word about the next San Francisco Bay Area reading by writers born in the former USSR. This event is a part of San Francisco’s…
puncturedlines.com
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puncturedlines.bsky.social
Punctured Lines @puncturedlines.bsky.social · 1d
San Francisco Bay Area: We’re a group of immigrant writers and translators born in the former USSR, here to push back against the growing threat to freedom of expression. Come to our Lit Crawl event at Ruth’s Table (3160 21st Street) on October 25, 2025, 5 pm.
@litquake.org #BayArea
A flyer displaying ten author's photos alongside three quarters perimeter. In the center left, in black, title of the event: OWNING FEAR, REACHING FOR FREEDOM: POST-SOVIET WRITERS AND TRANSLATORS SPEAK OUT on the right, in red: LIT CRAWL SAN FRANCISCO Below, in Blue: Sat OCTOBER 25TH 5-6 PM AT RUTH'S TABLE 2160 21st Street Sponsored by California Humanities and Ruth's Table
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dmanin.bsky.social
Dmitri Manin @dmanin.bsky.social · Nov 13

Preorder this anthology of Soviet children's literature at 50% off until Nov. 20: $15 paperback or $49.50 hardcover. All new translations by Anna Krushelnitskaya and y.t.
Firefly in a Box
Contributions by Marina Balina, Sibelan Forrester, Anna Krushelnitskaya, Dmitri Manin, Svetlana Maslinskaya, Ainsley Morse, and Serguei Alex. OushakineIn Firefly in a Box: An Anthology of Soviet Kid L...
www.upress.state.ms.us
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dmanin.bsky.social
Dmitri Manin @dmanin.bsky.social · 2d
San Francisco people, come hear us!
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olgaz.bsky.social
Olga Zilberbourg @olgaz.bsky.social · 3d
I hope to see many of you at our Lit Crawl event on October 25, 2025. For SF Writers Workshop, our theme this year is "We've Got Notes for You!" Five of our current and former regulars will read their writing and tell us how workshop feedback has informed their revision process.
#BookSky #SFevents
An image of a blackboard with a stack of yellow pencils in the foreground. Text in yellow and white reads: San Francisco Writers Workshop Presents Five writers read their stories and share the feedback that made them great. Then YOU get to critique a juicy story, Live! Below: Author's portraits with signatures: Beverly Parayno Peng Ngin Tim Sullivan Jo Beckett-King Tony Tepper Below: We've Got Notes for You! October 25, 2025 Lit Crawl, Phase II, 6:30 pm Noisebridge, 272 Capp Street
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puncturedlines.bsky.social
Punctured Lines @puncturedlines.bsky.social · 15d
We are accepting submissions on a rolling basis -- whenever you have something for us, please do send!
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puncturedlines.bsky.social
Punctured Lines @puncturedlines.bsky.social · 15d
Ooh, if you ever write work based on your family background, let us know! We're interested in diaspora stories from that part of the world. Armenian diaspora is so vibrant and varied!
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kristinaten.bsky.social
Kristina Ten @kristinaten.bsky.social · 15d
Thanks so much for reading, Eva! I'm glad to hear it resonated. Have you read Victoria Lomasko's The Last Soviet Artist? I found it really interesting—thought you might, too!
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evavroslin.bsky.social
♿️ Eva V Roslin (They/She) 🟨⬜️🟪⬛️ 🍁 @evavroslin.bsky.social · 15d
Dear @kristinaten.bsky.social, your essay was so meaningful and hit me really hard on multiple levels. I didn't know about the region you mentioned in Georgia, but I know that there have been and is still a fairly large Armenian population, which is my background. Thank you for sharing 💜
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olgaz.bsky.social
Olga Zilberbourg @olgaz.bsky.social · 15d
I love this essay so much!!
puncturedlines.bsky.social
Punctured Lines @puncturedlines.bsky.social · 15d
Don't miss @kristinaten.bsky.social on the blog with an essay about nostalgia, complex geographies, & the inspiration for her speculative collection TELL ME YOURS, I'LL TELL YOU MINE. Stillhouse Press, October 7, 2025--preorder!
#BookSky #speculativefiction

puncturedlines.com/2025/09/16/w...
Top: Punctured Lines logo with black letters over white background and red stripes across. Left: The title of an essay: We Have to Go Back: Speculative Fiction, Nostalgia, and the Ghosts of Bookshelves Past, Guest Essay by Kristina Ten Right: Picture of a yellow book cover with pink lettering words on a page: I have a tricky relationship with nostalgia. It’s a complicated thing when you’re a child of empire, more complicated when you’re a child of two. I was born in Moscow to a mother with Siberian roots and a father with Georgian roots, whose own father was one of many Soviet Koreans living on Sakhalin Island before being forcibly deported, under Stalin’s regime, in cattle cars to rural Kazakhstan and other parts of Central Asia (my grandfather was the only one of his siblings to survive this displacement). After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, my parents and I moved to the United States. I grew up in Arizona, then New York, going to summer camp and raising Neopets and marveling at the novelty of AOL Instant Messenger, and I didn’t give much thought then to all the things I write about now: empire, patriarchy, all the terrifying ways a repressive state can assert its power. These days, it seems as though I think of little else. Which isn’t to say I’m immune to nostal words on a page: This species of nostalgia relies on a warped glorification of the past, with aims to influence the future. In Russia, it might look like Putin’s reinstatement of the Soviet national anthem in 2000; or, in more recent years, the steady reinstallation of monuments to Joseph Stalin throughout the country, monuments which had been systematically removed starting in the 1950s with the de-Stalinization reforms. In the States, it might look like a longing to return to “simpler, better times,” which, on its face, recalls some idyllic bygone era when it was socially acceptable to ride your bike to a friend’s house without calling first, to knock on their door, ask them to come out and play—and who doesn’t want that? But beneath this rosy vision often churns an undercurrent of traditional values about marriage, childrearing, and the nuclear family, along with anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment. “Back in my day, we would…” “Back in my day, we wouldn’t…” Remember the “good times,” these his Top: Punctured Lines logo, black letters on a white background with red stripes. Left: Read Kristina Ten's Guest Essay on Punctured Lines Pre-Order TELL ME YOURS I"LL TELL YOU MINE from Stillhouse Press Right: Yellow book cover with pink lettering
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puncturedlines.bsky.social
Punctured Lines @puncturedlines.bsky.social · 15d
Don't miss @kristinaten.bsky.social on the blog with an essay about nostalgia, complex geographies, & the inspiration for her speculative collection TELL ME YOURS, I'LL TELL YOU MINE. Stillhouse Press, October 7, 2025--preorder!
#BookSky #speculativefiction

puncturedlines.com/2025/09/16/w...
Top: Punctured Lines logo with black letters over white background and red stripes across. Left: The title of an essay: We Have to Go Back: Speculative Fiction, Nostalgia, and the Ghosts of Bookshelves Past, Guest Essay by Kristina Ten Right: Picture of a yellow book cover with pink lettering words on a page: I have a tricky relationship with nostalgia. It’s a complicated thing when you’re a child of empire, more complicated when you’re a child of two. I was born in Moscow to a mother with Siberian roots and a father with Georgian roots, whose own father was one of many Soviet Koreans living on Sakhalin Island before being forcibly deported, under Stalin’s regime, in cattle cars to rural Kazakhstan and other parts of Central Asia (my grandfather was the only one of his siblings to survive this displacement). After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, my parents and I moved to the United States. I grew up in Arizona, then New York, going to summer camp and raising Neopets and marveling at the novelty of AOL Instant Messenger, and I didn’t give much thought then to all the things I write about now: empire, patriarchy, all the terrifying ways a repressive state can assert its power. These days, it seems as though I think of little else. Which isn’t to say I’m immune to nostal words on a page: This species of nostalgia relies on a warped glorification of the past, with aims to influence the future. In Russia, it might look like Putin’s reinstatement of the Soviet national anthem in 2000; or, in more recent years, the steady reinstallation of monuments to Joseph Stalin throughout the country, monuments which had been systematically removed starting in the 1950s with the de-Stalinization reforms. In the States, it might look like a longing to return to “simpler, better times,” which, on its face, recalls some idyllic bygone era when it was socially acceptable to ride your bike to a friend’s house without calling first, to knock on their door, ask them to come out and play—and who doesn’t want that? But beneath this rosy vision often churns an undercurrent of traditional values about marriage, childrearing, and the nuclear family, along with anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment. “Back in my day, we would…” “Back in my day, we wouldn’t…” Remember the “good times,” these his Top: Punctured Lines logo, black letters on a white background with red stripes. Left: Read Kristina Ten's Guest Essay on Punctured Lines Pre-Order TELL ME YOURS I"LL TELL YOU MINE from Stillhouse Press Right: Yellow book cover with pink lettering
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Reposted by Punctured Lines
kristinaten.bsky.social
Kristina Ten @kristinaten.bsky.social · 15d
Big thanks to @patrickbarb.bsky.social for chatting with me about the great Mariana Enriquez for @shortwavebooks.bsky.social. We talked: polluted places, collective shame, horror with a social consciousness, the “default” reader, the early internet, borderlands, and more.
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emelkrishnan.bsky.social
M. L. Krishnan @emelkrishnan.bsky.social · 23d
This is a gorgeous, thoughtful essay by @kristinaten.bsky.social (with incredible accompanying photos) that stays with you. 🖤
kristinaten.bsky.social
Kristina Ten @kristinaten.bsky.social · 23d
Wrote a photo essay for @puncturedlines.bsky.social about nostalgia, Soviet-era children’s books, speculative fiction, and a recent trip to the country of Georgia. Come for the picture of baby-me talking into a mall phone. Stay for Svetlana Boym 💗

➡️ puncturedlines.com/2025/09/16/
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foxesandroses.bsky.social
Eugenia Triantafyllou @foxesandroses.bsky.social · 23d
Kris distilled the essence of nostalgia and search for identity in this emotional essay and it's no different than her collection.
kristinaten.bsky.social
Kristina Ten @kristinaten.bsky.social · 23d
Wrote a photo essay for @puncturedlines.bsky.social about nostalgia, Soviet-era children’s books, speculative fiction, and a recent trip to the country of Georgia. Come for the picture of baby-me talking into a mall phone. Stay for Svetlana Boym 💗

➡️ puncturedlines.com/2025/09/16/
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yelenafurman.bsky.social
Yelena Furman @yelenafurman.bsky.social · 23d
An essay by @kristinaten.bsky.social, whose short story collection, Tell Me Yours, I'll Tell You Mine, is out later this year.
@olgaz.bsky.social
puncturedlines.bsky.social
Punctured Lines @puncturedlines.bsky.social · 23d
On nostalgia and more by @kristinaten.bsky.social

"The acquisition of the hundred-plus children’s books from my mom’s basement wasn’t exactly in keeping with this plan. So naturally I loaded them up [...] and set them up that day."
puncturedlines.com/2025/09/16/w...

@olgaz.bsky.social
We Have to Go Back: Speculative Fiction, Nostalgia, and the Ghosts of Bookshelves Past, Guest Essay by Kristina Ten
We’re delighted to welcome Kristina Ten on the blog with an essay about some of the origins—personal, familial, cultural, and political—of her debut short story collection. Tell Me Yours, I’l…
puncturedlines.com
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puncturedlines.bsky.social
Punctured Lines @puncturedlines.bsky.social · 23d
On nostalgia and more by @kristinaten.bsky.social

"The acquisition of the hundred-plus children’s books from my mom’s basement wasn’t exactly in keeping with this plan. So naturally I loaded them up [...] and set them up that day."
puncturedlines.com/2025/09/16/w...

@olgaz.bsky.social
We Have to Go Back: Speculative Fiction, Nostalgia, and the Ghosts of Bookshelves Past, Guest Essay by Kristina Ten
We’re delighted to welcome Kristina Ten on the blog with an essay about some of the origins—personal, familial, cultural, and political—of her debut short story collection. Tell Me Yours, I’l…
puncturedlines.com
3 4
Reposted by Punctured Lines
kristinaten.bsky.social
Kristina Ten @kristinaten.bsky.social · 23d
Wrote a photo essay for @puncturedlines.bsky.social about nostalgia, Soviet-era children’s books, speculative fiction, and a recent trip to the country of Georgia. Come for the picture of baby-me talking into a mall phone. Stay for Svetlana Boym 💗

➡️ puncturedlines.com/2025/09/16/
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Reposted by Punctured Lines
olgaz.bsky.social
Olga Zilberbourg @olgaz.bsky.social · Sep 5
My book came out 6 years ago -- thank you WTAW Press for taking a chance on this collection. It made my world so much bigger and helped me meet so many wonderful people and find community. Huge hugs to all my readers -- forever grateful.
A woman holding a book. On the background: a bougainvillea in bloom and gray sky.
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natasaphd.bsky.social
Natasa Kovacevic (@natasaphd) @natasaphd.bsky.social · Aug 29
My book is available for pre-order from
@nupress.bsky.social. 25% discount with code NUP2025 at nupress.northwestern.edu/978081014884... Only a few more weeks until it comes out!
Nonaligned Imagination - Northwestern University Press
Recovering the literary and intellectual history of anticolonial collaborations   Preoccupied with developing a multiethnic, postcolonial culture and seekin...
nupress.northwestern.edu
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fiveminutelit.bsky.social
Five Minutes @fiveminutelit.bsky.social · Sep 4
This time, someone emails to subpoena records of my supposed coworker. —"The Double" by @yelenafurman.bsky.social

https://www.fiveminutelit.com/the-double
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yelenafurman.bsky.social
Yelena Furman @yelenafurman.bsky.social · Sep 4
Huge thank you to Susanna Baird and the team at Five Minutes. The journal's premise is to describe 5 minutes of your life in 100 words, and the piece was inspired by the event described in the first sentence that happened recently, yet again. I have more such stories, but they exceed 100 words.
fiveminutelit.bsky.social
Five Minutes @fiveminutelit.bsky.social · Sep 4
This time, someone emails to subpoena records of my supposed coworker. —"The Double" by @yelenafurman.bsky.social

https://www.fiveminutelit.com/the-double
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Reposted by Punctured Lines
yelenafurman.bsky.social
Yelena Furman @yelenafurman.bsky.social · Sep 4
ICYMI: An excerpt from Karolina Krasuska's Soviet-Born, the first academic monograph on Soviet-Born contemporary immigrant writers in North America. Thank you, as always, @olgaz.bsky.social for editing collaboration.
puncturedlines.bsky.social
Punctured Lines @puncturedlines.bsky.social · Sep 4
ICYMI: "Until more recently, Soviet-born Jewish writing in English has not featured many queer presences. At the same time, queerness has [...] become a defining [...] characteristic of [...] writerly and activist groups within the post-Soviet diaspora."

puncturedlines.com/2025/09/01/q...
Queering Peripheries: Lara Vapnyar’s “Lydia’s Grove”: Soviet-Born: The Afterlives of Migration in Jewish American Fiction by Karolina Krasuska
Today we are featuring an excerpt from Soviet-Born: The Afterlives of Migration in Jewish American Fiction (Rutgers UP, 2024) by Karolina Krasuska, associate professor at the American Studies Cente…
puncturedlines.com
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puncturedlines.bsky.social
Punctured Lines @puncturedlines.bsky.social · Sep 4
Lydia’s home is out of date and ill-fitting with the topography of Moscow as imagined in the story, which aligns with the way queer spaces are theorized.

#BookSky

puncturedlines.com/2025/09/01/q...
Queering Peripheries: Lara Vapnyar’s “Lydia’s Grove”: Soviet-Born: The Afterlives of Migration in Jewish American Fiction by Karolina Krasuska
Today we are featuring an excerpt from Soviet-Born: The Afterlives of Migration in Jewish American Fiction (Rutgers UP, 2024) by Karolina Krasuska, associate professor at the American Studies Cente…
puncturedlines.com
2 9
puncturedlines.bsky.social
Punctured Lines @puncturedlines.bsky.social · Sep 4
ICYMI: "Until more recently, Soviet-born Jewish writing in English has not featured many queer presences. At the same time, queerness has [...] become a defining [...] characteristic of [...] writerly and activist groups within the post-Soviet diaspora."

puncturedlines.com/2025/09/01/q...
Queering Peripheries: Lara Vapnyar’s “Lydia’s Grove”: Soviet-Born: The Afterlives of Migration in Jewish American Fiction by Karolina Krasuska
Today we are featuring an excerpt from Soviet-Born: The Afterlives of Migration in Jewish American Fiction (Rutgers UP, 2024) by Karolina Krasuska, associate professor at the American Studies Cente…
puncturedlines.com
1 2
puncturedlines.bsky.social
Punctured Lines @puncturedlines.bsky.social · Sep 4
Lydia’s home is out of date and ill-fitting with the topography of Moscow as imagined in the story, which aligns with the way queer spaces are theorized.

#BookSky

puncturedlines.com/2025/09/01/q...
Queering Peripheries: Lara Vapnyar’s “Lydia’s Grove”: Soviet-Born: The Afterlives of Migration in Jewish American Fiction by Karolina Krasuska
Today we are featuring an excerpt from Soviet-Born: The Afterlives of Migration in Jewish American Fiction (Rutgers UP, 2024) by Karolina Krasuska, associate professor at the American Studies Cente…
puncturedlines.com
1 1 1