Short Video Introducing Between Two Millstones

Learn more about the forthcoming English publication of BETWEEN TWO MILLSTONES, Book 1: Sketches of Exile.

McKenna lecture in Montpelier

Kevin McKenna presented a lecture on Solzhenitsyn yesterday at the Vermont Historical Society in Montpelier.  

Antoine Rault in Le Figaro

Writing in Le Figaro yesterday, the French novelist Antoine Rault marvels at the phenomenon of Solzhenitsyn, calling him "one of the greatest writers of the 20th century".

“For a writer today, at the beginning of the 21st century, when one of the greatest challenges for free societies is to fight against the falsification of history and facts, Solzhenitsyn must be read more than ever.”

Caulfield and McKenna Radio Interview

Margot Caulfield, director of the Cavendish Historical Society and author of the young adult biography of Solzhenitsyn, The Writer Who Changed History, joins Vermont Edition to discuss the author's time in Cavendish.

Plus, Kevin McKenna, a Russian language and literature professor at the University of Vermont, discusses his research into the Russian writer and his path to fame, exile, and eventual return to his home country.

Between Two Millstones to appear in English

The University of Notre Dame Press has announced the long-awaited English publication of BETWEEN TWO MILLSTONES, Book 1: Sketches of Exile—Solzhenitsyn’s memoirs of the West.  Book 1, covering the years 1974-1978, will appear in October in a first English translation by Peter Constantine. Book 2, covering 1978-1994, is slated for release in autumn 2019.

Vermont History Museum to Host Solzhenitsyn Scholar for Talk

On Thursday, 17 May, University of Vermont Professor Kevin J. McKenna will be the guest speaker at a luncheon hosted by the Vermont History Museum. His talk is entitled, "No Man Is a Prophet in His Own Land’: Russia’s Loss Has Been Vermont’s Gain.”

Open to the public, this event will occur in conjunction with the opening of a photo exhibit devoted to Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and the time he spent living in Vermont (1975-1994). McKenna will present a general introduction to Solzhenitsyn and his life in Cavendish, as well as what his presence in Vermont meant for Vermonters.

This is the Vermont History Museum's "Third Thursday Talk" for May. The presentation will begin at 12:00pm.

Attendees will have a chance to view the Solzhenitsyn exhibit, which officially opens Saturday, 19 May.