Dostoevsky in Love

Dostoevsky’s life was marked by brilliance and brutality. Sentenced to death as a young revolutionary, he survived mock execution and Siberian exile to live through a time of seismic change in Russia, eventually being accepted into the Tsar’s inner circle. He had three great love affairs, each overshadowed by debilitating epilepsy and addiction to gambling. Somehow, amidst all this, he found time to write short stories, journalism and novels now recognised as among the finest ever written. 

Alex Christofi discusses his new book, Dostoevsky in Love, in conversation with Chris Power. Researched using The London Library’s unique collection, the book weaves excerpts of the author’s work with the historical context to create an immersive, novelistic portrait of the artist as never seen before: a genre-bending biography of the great novelist, whose life was as dramatic as his fiction.

Alex Christofi is Editorial Director at Transworld Publishers and the author of the novels Let Us Be True and Glass, winner of the Betty Trask Prize for fiction. He has written for numerous publications including the Guardian, the London Magazine and The White Review. Dostoevsky in Love is his first work of non-fiction. 

Chris Power is a literary critic for the Guardian and author of short story collection The Mothers, which was longlisted for the Rathbones Folio Prize and shortlisted for the Edge Hill Short Story Prize. His debut novel, A Lonely Man, will be published in April.

Dostoevsky in Love and A Lonely Man can be ordered from West Hampstead's lovely indie bookshop, West End Lane Books

N.B. This is an online event. You will be sent a viewing link and password with your booking confirmation. The event will be available to watch with the same link and password anytime afterwards.