The Pushkin Club is a London institution that gives “lectures, recitals, recitations, covering all aspects of Russian culture… The list of visiting poets is impressive: Andrei Voznesensky, Yevgeny Rein – the mentor of Joseph Brodsky, Irina Ratushinskaya, Dmitry Prigov, Olga Sedakova, Tatiana Voltskaya, the young Azeri poet Negar, to name just a few – all with English translations read by readers in the bilingual tradition of the Pushkin Club.” It’s been around since 1953 (history), and the BBC did a nice half-hour program (or programme, if you prefer) with interviews and some readings in both languages. If I get to London, I’ll definitely drop by. (Thanks, Paul!)
Update (Aug. 2023). Shortly after I made this post, Pushkin Club underwent a merger: “The work of the Pushkin Club will continue unfettered and unchanged but it will take place within the cultural programme of Pushkin House.” Apparently it still exists as an entity.
Yevgeny Rein was one of Brodsky’s close friends, but to call him Brodsky’s mentor…
Can anyone help me contact Irina Kirillova? Her Mum was my Russian teacher at the Lycée Francis in the 1960s. I am not sure that she is still alive. She would be about 80+ now. Her family was very active in the Pushkin Club back in the day. Many thanks. Lucy Gowan
Her contact details are here (assuming that’s the same woman); she’s still active in the Pushkin Club (“One of the original Trustees of Pushkin House Irina Kirillova … will read two of Pushkin’s poems …”).