Svetlana Satchkova w/ Tara Conklin, THE UNDEAD

Journalist and writer Svetlana Satchkova visits the store for her first novel in English, The Undead, and will be joined in conversation by Seattle writer Tara Conklin. Written with the undeniable voice of an emigre from Putin's Russia, The Undead is a tense, piercing story that serves as a parable, and a warning, about political oppression.

"[An] exquisite balance between contentment and foreboding, tranquility and chaos." —Vogue

In this gripping tale of contemporary Russia, a young filmmaker and her friends run afoul of a government that ruthlessly oppresses artists who dare to satirize the regime . . .

When Maya, a young Russian filmmaker, makes a low-budget horror movie with her friends, it seems like a promising start to a career in indie film. Little does she know that her jokey lo-fi film will soon attract the attention of the autocratic censors at the highest levels of the Russian police state.

What follows is a propulsive narrative of an artist being crushed by state power, and the choices that one makes within a system where free expression is literally illegal.

Svetlana Satchkova is a Russian-born journalist and novelist who immigrated to the United States in 2016. She covers culture and politics, with bylines in Literary Hub, The Rumpus, Newsweek, LARB, the Independent, and others. Currently a research fellow at the Jordan Center for the Advanced Study of Russia at NYU, she holds an MFA from Brooklyn College and lives in Brooklyn. Svetlana has published three novels in Russian; The Undead: A Novel of Modern Russia, is her English-language debut.

Tara Conklin is the New York Times bestselling author of the novels The Last Romantics, The House Girl and, most recently, Community Board. She lives in Seattle where she teaches in-person at Hugo House and virtually at The Novelry.

Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.

Get App

Host or Publisher Elliott Bay Book Company