Russian culture Archives - Nicholas Kotar

Villains of Slavic Mythology: Koshchei the Deathless

This week we're continuing the theme of "the invisible world in Slavic mythology." After the hero has passed the trials of Baba …

One of the more fascinating articles I've read recently is one about "untranslatable emotions" in different languages. I was …

(Translated from the July 2016 issue of Foma. Here’s the link to the original Russian article) The Ostromir Gospels is the …

Earlier this week, I shared a blog post about the amazing things Russians Tsars did on Christmas day. It struck me as an …

I've always loved good, old-fashioned pageantry. In my novels, I try to include moments of it, since it's not something authors …

If you're anything like me, you usually don't bother making New Years' resolutions, because you never keep them. But for me, this …

Last Monday, the Russian Orthodox Church celebrated the day of Archangel Michael. It was doubly interesting that the day fell on a …

As I’ve begun to delve deeply into my second novel, I’m considering using the time of the year as a contrast to the characters’ …

A criticism of an early version of my first novel was that it was not grounded enough, too “out there,” too interested in the …