Literary Prize of the Estonian Kindred Peoples’ Programme

Announcement

The Council of the Estonian Kindred Peoples’ Programme and the Association of Finno-Ugric Literatures announce a literary prize contest among writers, translators and literary critics belonging to the Uralic kindred peoples’ communities that have no nationhood.

Finns Call on Medvedev to End Violations of Rights and Freedoms in Russia

Four leading Finnish non-governmental organizations have called on visiting President Dmitry Medvedev to live up to his promises to protect human rights and civic freedoms and to end the violence against journalists and ethnic minorities in the Russian Federation that are creating a gulf between Moscow and Europe.

Sergei Chavain’s Elnet reviewed

One of my many projects with Mari is a translation of Sergei Chavain’s novel Elnet into English. Portions of the translation will appear here in due time. In the meantime, this description of the novel by Ville Ropponen, from a review of the recent Finnish translation, may do much to introduce the work.

The novel Elnet by Sergei Chavain (1888–1937) depicts the Russian revolution in a Mari village of yesteryear and the conflict around Mari identity. The fate of two young men are intertwined in its plot.

Medvedev’s Visit in Finland Begins Monday

Russian president Dmitry Medvedev arrived in Finland around noon on Monday for a state visit. The two-day visit includes official talks with president Tarja Halonen. Top agenda items during talks include energy, Russian timber tariffs and easing visa formalities between the two countries.

Kazan Tatars, Muslims and Shamans Present Three New Challenges to Moscow

Three very different actions by the Kazan Tatars, a major Muslim Spiritual Directorate, and the shamans of the Russian Federation both reflect the unintended consequences of Moscow’s approach to ethnic and religious issues and present new challenges to the Russian government that it may find difficult to dismiss out of hand.

National Theatre of Karelia presented Karelian-Finnish theatre project in Moscow

On April, 3-5 in Moscow in the Central House of Artists there passed the 4th PRO – Theatre 2009 Russian Theatre Market. As a tradition it was held within the scope of the Gold Mask national theatre premium and has this time involved about 70 theatres from Russia, Sweden, Czechia, Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Uzbekistan, South Korea.

National Theatre of Karelia, having presented dramatic art of the republic for the fourth time at the market,

The first show of Veppsian Runes of Kalevala passed in the village of Sheltozero

National literature of Finns and Karelians, as well as of many other peoples of Russia, originated with the epos of Kalevala. Some years ago a famous Veppsian linguist, poet and translator Nina Zaitseva has translated selected runes of Kalevala into Veppsian language.

This new product has given a creative impulse to Liudmila Melentieva, head of the Veppsian national chorus

Mari El: Anti-corruption website closed down

Authorities in Russia’s Republic of Mari El seem to regard President Dmitry Medvedev’s call to step up the fight against corruption as a direct threat to their personal interests, MariUver reports.

Their first step was to close down the website of the Public Committee to Fight Corruption in Mari El. This was not the first time that the authorities have tried to discredit the Committee.