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The Book Beat reading group selection for June is Grey Bees<\/strong><\/a> by Andrey Kurkov<\/strong>, translated from the Russian by Boris Dralyuk. This will be a virtual Zoom meeting<\/strong> held on Wednesday, June 29th<\/strong> at 7 pm<\/strong>. Books are available now and are discounted 15%. A limited number of signed copies are available. If you would like to attend, please RSVP to us with your name, phone number and email<\/strong> and we will add you to our virtual reading group list. Reminders and login links are sent on the morning or day of the meeting. Please try and login 10 minutes before the meeting so we can begin on time.<\/p>\n Sergeyich’s one remaining pleasure is his bees. As spring approaches, he knows he must take them far from the Grey Zone so they can collect their pollen in peace. This simple mission on their behalf introduces him to combatants and civilians on both sides of the battle lines: loyalists, separatists, Russian occupiers and Crimean Tatars. Wherever he goes, Sergeyich’s childlike simplicity and strong moral compass disarm everyone he meets. But could these qualities be manipulated to serve an unworthy cause, spelling disaster for him, his bees and his country?”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n “Andrey Kurkov has spent his life writing about realities so absurd they defy satire. It was perfect preparation for this moment… Ukraine’s greatest novelist.<\/em>” – Giles Harvey, The New York Times<\/a><\/p>\n “<\/span>A latter-day Bulgakov . . . A Ukrainian Murakami.<\/em>” – Phoebe Taplin, <\/span>The Guardian<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n “…as timely as the author\u2019s Ukraine Diaries were in 2014, but treats the unfolding crisis in a more imaginative way, with a pinch of Kurkov\u2019s signature humour. Who better than Ukraine\u2019s most famous novelist to illuminate and present a balanced portrait of this most bewildering of modern conflicts.<\/em>” – Dublin Literary Prize Award Statement<\/em><\/p>\n “Kurkov draws us with deceptive ease into a dense complex world full of wonderful characters.” – Sir Michael Palin<\/p>\n “In spare prose, Ukraine’s most famous novelist unsparingly examines the inhuman confusions of our modern times and the longing of the warm-hearted everyman that is Sergeyich for the rationality of the natural world.” – John Thornhill, Financial Times<\/a><\/p>\n Read a selection from Grey Bees<\/em> at: Lit Hub<\/a><\/p>\n Purchase a signed copy of Grey Bees at the Book Beat gallery<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u00a9 Getty Images<\/p><\/div>\n
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<\/a>Andrey Kurkov<\/strong> (1961-) was born near Leningrad. He worked as a journalist, prison warder, cameraman and screenplay-writer before he became well known as a novelist. He received “hundreds of rejections” and was a pioneer of self-publishing, selling more than 75,000 copies of his books in a single year. His novel Death and the Penguin<\/em>, his first in English translation, became an international bestseller, translated into more than thirty languages. Kurkov, who has long been a respected commentator on Ukraine for the international media, notably in Europe and the United States, has written assorted articles for various publications worldwide. His books are full of black humour, post-Soviet reality and elements of surrealism. He lives in Kiev with his British wife and their three children.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"