Wednesday 29th May
6pm
Free event, book your place here
“Viv is absolutely hilarious” – Jennifer Saunders
“Groskop is a skilled raconteuse who brings people – and the page – to life” – Wall Street Journal on Au Revoir, Tristesse
“Passionate, hilarious, joyful” – The Sunday Telegraph on The Anna Karenina Fix
Autumn 1993. The former USSR. Viv is about to turn 21 and is on a study year abroad, supposedly immersed in the language, history and politics of a world that has just ceased to exist: the Soviet Union. Instead, she finds herself immersed in Bogdan Bogdanovich – the lead guitarist of a Ukrainian punk rock band. As the temperature drops, he promises that if she can get through the freezing Russian winter, he will give her “one Ukrainian summer.”
At parties, gigs and dive bars, Viv and her new friends argue over whose turn it is to buy cigarettes, the best places to find Levi’s jeans and whether beer counts as a soft drink. No-one debates the merits of speaking Ukrainian over Russian, the precise location of the border or the undeniable brightness of the future. Of course the good times are here to stay. Because the Soviet Union is finished. Isn’t it?
One Ukrainian Summer (Bonnier, end May) is a memoir about falling in love and coming of age in the former USSR. Looking back with the hindsight of the past thirty years, comedian and best-selling author Viv Groskop revisits the optimism and hope of the era directly after the fall of the Berlin Wall. How can it be that three decades on Europe is at war? What happened to the promise of that time and what did we miss? What could we not see then? How can we make up for that now? A poignant and often comical account of coming-of-age in the time after the Cold War and before Putin, Viv Groskop’s new memoir One Ukrainian Summer is a love letter to a unique moment in history.
Viv Groskop is an award-winning author, comedian, playwright and broadcaster. Her books include The Anna Karenina Fix: Life Lessons from Russian Literature and the international bestseller How to Own the Room: Women and the Art of Brilliant Speaking. Her plays include One Summer in Luka (BBC Radio 3) about the impact of war on Sumy in northeastern Ukraine and For Love Nor Money (BBC Radio 4) about Homes for Ukraine. She has two Masters degrees in Russian Studies, is a former judge of the International Booker Prize and was a contributing editor at Russian Vogue for 10 years during the 2000s. She has spent time in Kyiv, Odesa, St Petersburg and Moscow. Viv Groskop grew up in Bruton and now lives in London.
Join us in the Club Room with Viv Groskop for an enchanting evening reminiscing and finding out more about those very interesting questions “what happened to the promise of that time”, “what did we miss”, and “how can we make up for that now?”.
Welcome drinks and nibbles will be served from 6pm with time to mingle before taking your seat in the Club Room for Viv’s talk.
All author proceeds from this book will be donated to PEN International for writers at risk.