Stepping Into the Blue... and Other Stories

Book excerpt: Mikhail Sadovsky is a writer well-known in Russia for his short stories and poetry, for his plays,musicals and operas that have been performed on the Russian stage, radio and television (this hasfrequently meant periods of close artistic co-operation with prominent contemporary composers),and especially for the many books he has now written for two generations of Russian children.Because of the restrictions on freedom of expression during the Soviet period, many of his criticallyacclaimed works were not able to be published before the 1990s, including four major poetrycollections: Zavtrashnee solntse (Tomorrow's sun, 1992), Bobie Leie (1993), Doverie (Trust, 1998)and Unisony (Unisons, 2001). His stories and essays have appeared in many prominent literaryjournals and newspapers, including the celebrated Russian-language paper Novoe Russkoe Slovo inNew York. His first novel, Pod chasami (Under the clock) was published in January 2003. Mr.Sadovksy emigrated to America in 2000 and now lives with his wife in New Jersey. This collectionrepresents the first appearance of his work in English translation