If you are holding an event related to Russia or her neighbours which you would like us to list on this page please email brief details and an image to info@scotlandrussiaforum.org.  The SRF reserves the right to accept, reject or edit material sent in.

 

1. CEES SEMINARS:  NOVEMBER 2019 Information about the next CEES seminar will be posted as soon as the title and date are known. Seminars are usually held at 4pm  on Wednesdays in the  Adam Smith Building, University of Glasgow. 
All most welcome to attend. 
(Travel by subway to Hillhead Station, exit at Byres Road and go up Great George Street turning off at Bute Gardens. The Adam Smith Building is at the end of Bute Gardens and it faces the University Library. Lift is available.) 

2. The next session of STARLING  - this is the Translation Forum which deals with Slavonic and other East/Central  European languages -  will be held on TUESDAY 3rd DECEMBER  at 5pm in the CEES SEMINAR ROOM, 8 LILYBANK GARDENS,  University of Glasgow and all welcome.  
 

3. SRF Meets SWI! Early in 2020 Dr Margarita Vaysman and Professor Peter France will be giving lectures at a Russian Social Evening held by the Scottish Women's Institute. Dr Vaysman will talk on  "Gender Issues in Russia" and Professor France on "Edwin Morgan and Russian Culture".  Details of time and venue will be posted when these are known. 
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4 Plans will be announced in the November Bulletin for a possible SRF trip to Russia...This is an initiative of the SRF Treasurer Peter Harvey. Watch this space!!!!  
 

AWARDS AND DISTINCTIONS   2019

JUNE 2019  LIEUTENANT COMMANDER DAIRMID GUNN, OBE,  was awarded the Pushkin Medal.
Members will doubtless wish to congratulate long-standing SRF member, Lieutenant Commander Dairmid Gunn, OBE, on this well-deserved  honour. Author of a book on the convoys to Russia during the Second World War, interpreter in the 1950s and posted as assistant naval attache to Moscow in the 1960s, Lieutenant Commander Gunn has served the cause of the promotion of cultural relations between Russia and the UK in a tireless and in an excellent manner. In the 1980s, for example, he was the chairman of the Scottish Branch of the GB-USSR Association and a member of its Council.  This has been a splendid start to the summer and warmest wishes and congratulations are passed on to  Dairmid!     

July 2019 MIROSLAVA BRONNIKOVA has recently been elected as the first ever Russian to be on the Board of Directors of the Edinburgh Fringe! Her appointment will be ratified at the AGM to be held on August 21st. Miroslava reveals that her "...love affair with Edinburgh started in 1999 when  I first came to visit the city with my family for a couple of days in late August".   In 2000 Miroslava spent 3 months studying at St George's School for Girls in Edinburgh and she returned to the city in 2013 to complete a Cambridge CELTA Course. With her husband Ivan she founded a theatre and dance company in Moscow and they are especially proud of their production based on Bulgakov's " Master and Margarita" For information on the two shows Miroslava has at this years Fringe please see https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/all-star-cabaret-the-free-fringe-gala  
 Miroslava's  e-mail address is miroslava.bronnikova@gmail.com and she will be very happy to hear from SRF members! 



Below please find a few future events which should be of interest to members. More details will be given in due course.
1. 2020 is a special anniversary year of the  Scottish poet Edwin Morgan. Morgan translated many Russian poets into Scots and if any SRF member has any personal memories of Morgan and his work we would be delighted to hear from you at info@scotlandrussiaforum.org. There will be a major Edwin Morgan Conference held in Glasgow in April 2020. Watch this space for more details. 
2. In the spring of 2021 the Annual British Congress of Slavists comes to Scotland! There should be many talks and sessions that will be of interest to SRF members. More details to follow in due course.
3. "Starling"  is a new Translation Forum which was set up at Glasgow University last autumn on a trial basis. Its aim is to look at various translation topics with Slavonic and other languages, including Hungarian and Finnish. It has had a very successful first "flight" and will be starting up again in September 2019. "Starling" was "founded" by Christine Bird and she will be sending a message of welcome out to all SRF members  in the autumn. 

Finally, I am sure that all SRF members would like to join in expressing heartfelt thanks to Jenny Carr for all the excellent work she did with SRF over so many years and we all wish her well for her future projects.

A quick reminder here too that Summerhall Arts Centre, Edinburgh  no longer houses the SRF Office. The SRF Office there is now closed. The new postal address in c/o CEES, (Centre for East European Studies) 8 Lilybank Gardens, University of Glasgow , Glasgow G12 8QQ. We do not have an actual office space at CEES but we hope that this affiliation will be an important and a fruitful one for the SRF. We are very grateful to Professor Richard Berry for allowing SRF to be linked to CEES in this way.  To contact us please use the postal address above or email us at info@scotlandrussiaforum.org. Emails are checked on an almost daily basis so we will reply to you as soon as possible.
Thank you.