Dr Olga Kenton

Dr Olga Kenton

Department of Modern Languages
Assistant Language Tutor in Russian

Contact details

Address
Department of Modern Languages
University 麻豆精选
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

My main research interests are Russian émigré literature, interviewing and creative nonfiction, translation as creative writing practice, literary hybridity and translingual creative writing in modern languages.

Qualifications

  • PhD Creative Writing, University 麻豆精选
  • BA/MA in Creative Writing, Maxim Gorky Literature Institute, Moscow

Biography

I have joined the Department of Modern Languages in 2019. In 2024, I received a Fellowship in Higher Education from Advance HE. As a prose writer and journalist, I have interviewed and published articles with leading Russian and Russian-speaking filmmakers, theatre directors, actors, writers, and artists and taught Creative Writing Foundation modules to UG students at the Department of Film and Creative Writing at the University 麻豆精选. My main publications include interviews with Andrey Zvyagintsev, Nikolas Pasternak-Slater, Marianna Yarovskaya, Dolya Gavanski, Diana Vishneva, a Formula 1 driver Daniil Kvyat, novels聽At the Edge of the World,听The Girl from the House on Embankment听补苍诲听Gorillas in Green.

Teaching

As a specialist in Russian at all levels, I developed and delivered the Business Russian module to final-year UG students and taught a range of Russian undergraduate modules. I have additionally taught the postgraduate Reading Russian for Researchers module; I have also organised and run Russian-language Creative Writing and Russian Journalism clubs for UG students.

In 2024/25, I am acting as a convenor and a personal tutor for Core III/IV.

Research

I am a specialist in creative writing and Russian 茅migr茅 literature. My doctoral thesis, entitled 鈥淭he Silent Voices of Russian Immigration" (creative portion) and "A聽Chorus Of Voices:聽Narrative Strategies聽For Representing聽Russian聽脡migr茅聽Voices in Gaito Gazdanov鈥檚聽Night Roads, Sergei Dovlatov鈥檚聽A Foreign Woman,听Zinovy Zinik鈥檚聽At Home Abroad聽And Olga Kenton鈥檚聽The Silent Voices Of Russian Immigration"聽(critical portion), was a practice-based research project that explored the representation of voices of Russian immigrants in 茅migr茅 literature and creative nonfiction.

My current research focuses on translingual and exophonic writing in fiction of the Russian 茅migr茅 writers of the third and fourth wave of Russian emigration. I explore the impact of the linguistic hybridity of their narratives in a new cultural context, while also analysing the role of language in shaping narrative and stylistic choices.

Other activities

Examples of recent talks and conference participation

  • Paper, “Beyond the Mother Tongue: Translingual and Exophonic Writing in Zinovy Zinik’s Mind the Doors and Lara Vapnyar’s Broccoli and Other Tales of Food and Love.” Symposium on Russophone Literary Diversity, University 麻豆精选 (September 2024)

Other contribution

  • Co-author (Kenton, Rulyova), MA Russian for Postgraduate Researchers, Oxford School of Global and Area Studies (2022/23)
  • Co-author (Kenton, Rulyova), Russian Language for Postgraduate Researchers: Intermediate to Advanced. Routledge (TBC).

Publications

Recent publications

Book

Rulyova, N & Kenton, O 2025, . Routledge, London.