Image: Lukas Lienhard
Sasha Filipenko is currently a sought-after author. The 38-year-old Minsk-born Belarusian is politically active and has published several articles criticizing the Lukashenko regime. He worked in St. Petersburg as a journalist, screenwriter, gag writer for a satirical show and as a TV presenter. In 2020 he had to leave Russia and now lives in Swiss exile with his family. His latest novel was recently published in German: “cremulator” is the title of the book that he will be presenting next Sunday at 7.30 p.m. in the Working World Museum. The event will be moderated by Günter Kaindlstorfer. The reading and discussion will be translated by the renowned interpreter Marina Dabic.
“We are very proud to have brought Filipenko to Steyr”says Christian Gsöllradl-Samhaber from the Literaturschiff initiative, “apart from Steyr, he only gives guest performances in Vienna and Salzburg”.
Central figure in “cremulator” is Pyotr Nesterenko. He is familiar with death. As director of the Moscow crematorium during the Stalin era, he cremated them all: dissidents, alleged spies and former revolutionary heroes who fell victim to the purges. He is convinced that he will not die, he has narrowly escaped death so many times. But then he gets arrested. “cremulator” is an oppressively topical novel about life in a dictatorship and the futility of war. And he provides insights into today’s Russia.
Source: Nachrichten
