ELKOST International literary agency - Elena Kostioukovitch at the Turin Epicurean Capital

From September 2nd to 4th, Elena Kostioukovitch will be participating to the Turin Epicurean Capital (see http://www.turinepi.com/), an International Food Lit Event where authors, bloggers and food professionals will talk about the universal meaning of food and its influence in their lives and careers in a series of round-tables.

Elena's round table will take place on September 2, at 10.30am, at the Teatro del Collegio San Giuseppe, Via Andrea Doria 18,Torino.

For the complete program of the event, please visit http://www.turinepi.com/p/calendar.html

Featured titles

Medea and her Children, a novel by Ludmila Ulitskaya (1996)

Moscow Penne Prize Winner 2000

Rights sold: Albania - OMSCA, Bulgaria - COLIBRI, China - KUN LUN, Denmark - GYLDENDAL, Estonia – TANAPAEV, Finland - SILTALA, France - GALLIMARD, Germany - VOLK UND WELT (LUCHTENHAND LUEBBE), Greece - OKEANIDA, Hungary - MAGVETO, Italy - EINAUDI, Israel - KETER BOOKS, Korea - GIMM-YOUNG, Latvia - JANIS ROZE, Lithuania - JOTEMA, The Netherlands - DE GEUS, Norway - BAZAR, Poland - PHILIP WILSON, Portugal - CAVALO DE FERRO, Romania - HUMANITAS, Russia - EKSMO, AST, Serbia - Filip Višnjić, Slovakia - KALLIGRAM, Turkey - AD KITAPCILIK, ITHAKI, USA - SCHOCKEN, World Arabic - DAR ALMADA

Medea Mendez is an iconic figure in her Crimean village, the last remaining pureblooded Greek in a family that has lived on that coast for centuries. Looking like "a portrait Goya had omitted to paint" in the widow's black she has worn since the death of her husband, the childless Medea is the touchstone of a large family of nieces and nephews who, together with their spouses, children, and friends, gather each spring and summer at her home. Ageless and unflappable, Medea greets each successive wave of visitors with calm warmth and welcome, and observes with interest their romantic entanglements, disappointments, conflicts, and passions. These shifting currents of erotic attraction and competition intertwine with the dramatic saga of a family surviving the upheavals that characterized Soviet life in the twentieth century, as viewed through Medea's memories.

"The story has a Tolstoyan heft to it, not only in its seriousness but in the dizzying array of characters who wander in and out." (Kirkus Review)

TIERRA ADELANTE! a novel by Andrei Kofman

Rights sold: Russia - SOFIA

Winner of the DREAM BOOK National Literary Award (2006, Russia)

A breathtaking story of Spanish colonization of the Americas. Adventure novel for children and young adults by Andrei Kofman

It was in the first part of XVIth century. A new continent was already discovered, and people began to call Europe THE OLD WORLD as opposed to a NEW one, which to many seemed to be full of mysteries and enchantment, a promised land of unimaginable wonders capable to fulfill any human desire. Precisely in search of these miracles Spanish noble marquise Don Alonso de Santillana and his anecdotic crew composed exclusively of whitebeards and cripples sale towards the New Lands. An aged romantic crackpot, a knight errant and passionate lover of chivalry novels, Don Alonso winds up his rich Sevillian estate, and uses all his dough to fit up a ship and to organize an expedition to a New Continent. He and his crew are consolidated by overwhelming belief in miracles of the New World, while all reasonable-minded inhabitants of Seville make merry over their craze.

Don Alonso de Santillana proved to have more luck than his compatriot Don Quixote. Together with his brave crew he managed to discover a multitude of never before explored islands and countries. More important of all, with their very own eyes they saw all the marvels of the world: the giants, who turned out to be wild but quite peaceful folk, the beautiful female warriors, amazons, whom Don Alonso's personal barber revealed all the secrets of Old World beauty and cosmetic culture. On their journey the travelers run into a race of dog-headed people, saw live headless people, sea sirens, dragons etc. Finally they made it to their destination and bathed in the magical water of the Spring of the Eternal Youth, recovering their young age and beauty. Unfortunately, they were the last ones who had an opportunity to enjoy the miracle: a local Indian who showed them to the Spring destroyed it in order not to share this marvel with cruel conquistadores.

Each of Don Alonso's companions finds the most desired, and each one of them is compensated deservedly. Rejuvenated marquise finds his Dame, and only these two are permitted to pass through the gates of the Earthly Heaven. Captain Sancho, a passionate sea wolf, chooses to stay forever on his ship. And Padre Galindo, a monk, lives a long and fruitful life and writes down a chronicle of their miraculous journey.

TERRA ADELANTE! by Andrei Kofman is an adventure novel following the best traditions of the genre. His book features a richness of detail, while it's tonality and rhythmical pattern are close to a modern young reader. Informational "inserts" into a novel's narrative body (as author himself claims, these might be omitted while reading) represent the most interesting and sometimes unexpected historical facts and explanations. For example, Kofman explains the origins of $ symbol and what connection it bears to a national coat-of-arms of Spanish Kingdom, or describes the evolution of geographical maps and why Middle Age navigators were always finding not what they were looking for. Author gives a detailed account of real conquistador's expeditions in search of magical creatures and their discoveries.

For example, did you know that

the longest river in the world was named by Spanish conquistadors Amazon River after a mythical ancient nation of all-female warriors?
the name California was taken by Spanish conquistadors from XVI-century popular chivalric romance ‘Espladián’s Adventures’?
the Fountain of Youth, a legendary spring that reputedly restores the youth of anyone who drinks of its waters, is said to be located in Florida, and stories of the fountain are dating back to Spanish conquest time?