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Learn more about Paul Russell and his recently released novel The Unreal Life of Sergey Nabokov.

Sergey, born less than a year after Vladimir, was the opposite of his strong-willed, self-absorbed and talented brother. He stuttered; he had few friends; his inchoate homosexuality was both fascinating and terrifying to him. Russell talks about inventing a personality for someone who actually lived, particularly one who was related and acquainted with other notable persons of the era. “This is one of the reasons I chose that title, the unreal life: just to remind people that this does not pretend to be a biography. It is very much a work of fiction.”

It is a beautifully written one – a work that evokes loss and longing, in that the real Sergey died in a concentration camp just before the war ended. Russell has honored his memory, at least.

Get excited for the San Francisco Writer’s Conference, February 16-19 at the Mark Hopkins Hotel! Our very own BRENDA KNIGHT will be speaking on Friday, February 17: PUTTING YOUR PASSION ON THE PAGE: How to Use What You Care Most About to Create Your Greatest Success. 

LEMONS AND LAVENDER author Billee Sharp muses on the state of social media. A taste: “Again it seems the development of social networking reduces our interactions to the lowest denominator rather than elevating our sensibilities to our lofty potentiality.”