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Check out BookRiot's literary road trips across the US
Posted on August 13, 2021 at 2:30 PM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek
BookRiot has launched a fantastic new series of posts: itineraries for bookish road trips across the United States.
The first installment took you literally coast to coast via Interstate 90 ; the second doesn’t make it all the way across, but provides plenty of amusement close to Interstate 70 .
But no matter if you’re staying home or in need of one more vacation this summer, check out the amazing libraries, bookstores, and historic sites highlighted!
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Literary Tourism: 10 Must-Visit Destinations For Any Book-Loving Traveler
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Bookworms have an unyielding fascination with libraries and anything that promotes literacy. Literary tourism is a concept that celebrates reading culture. The idea is to visit places around the world that have been featured in your favorite fictional novels. An even larger form of literary tourism dedicates travel to indulging in pristine book-ridden venues or even the homes of classic authors.
Whichever method you choose, literary referenced destinations are available in virtually any spot in the world. Travelers needn't be an English major to appreciate these worldly book receptacles. Check out these 10 must-see destinations for any book-loving traveler.
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10 The Fable Bar
Located in London, The Fable bar is inspired by fairytales and the fables of Aesop. The fantasy-themed bar and restaurant is subtle and playful. The concept is spread over three different levels and offers a stunning fairy-tale escape from London's busy streets. It's the perfect place to enjoy brunch, have some tea, and geek out with your fellow book-lovers over your latest read.
9 Trinity College
This college in Dublin, Ireland is a novel enthusiasts dream. The campus holds one of the most exquisite and gorgeous libraries in all of Europe. Built on several stories the shelves of books both new and old seem endless. The Library of Trinity College is the largest library in all of Ireland, with over five million books sitting on display. It gets 10,000 new items almost every year, and, considering the library has been around since the 1500s, it might be time to expand this novel architecture.
8 Shakespeare’s Globe
The Shakespeare Globe in London is a unique housing unit that protects the famous Globe Theater. This theater is acknowledged by its use by acclaimed writer William Shakespeare. The original globe was built in 1599 but destroyed in the 1614 fire. It was reconstructed just a few years later, only to be demolished. The constant rise of this spectacle certainly speaks to its popularity among travelers. The Globe officially reopened in just 1997 as a way to pay tribute to the former theater. It now allows 1,400 spectators to watch as local actors try their hand on the stage that Shakespeare once stood.
7 Library Hotel
If you can't dedicate an entire journey to literary tourism, then at least you can stay in gems like the Library Hotel. This unique stay is fashioned just off of Madison Square in New York City. If you are one of the lucky 60 occupants that make up its rooms, you will be pleased with your own in-room library. Each guest has their own personal library of fifty to one hundred books, not including the bookshelves situated around the lobby. The hotel is expertly themed using thing Dewy Decibel System. Each floor is labeled as according to genre—for example, the fifth floor is the Science floor. Every room is also decorated to fit its own subcategories such as Poetry, Botany, Music, and even Erotic Literature.
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6 Jane Austen Centre
The influential English novelist, Jane Austen, has a museum dedicated to her own experiences in Bath, England. Outside is a newly commissioned wax figure of the historical figure. Inside, you will learn all about Austen's life in the city and how it affected her writing. Visitors can enjoy an afternoon tea in the Regency Tea Room, explore the jam-packed gift shop, or even stop by for their annual festival. Tickets for the event go on sale in June for the September event. A week-long devotion to Jane Austen offers guests the chance to live life like Jane Austen. activities include bonnet making, dancing, cooking, readings, and theatre performances.
5 Hotel Monteleone
This luxury New Orleans hotel is a beautiful fixture in the French Corner. The Beaux-Arts architectural style is derived from the late 1800s when this monument was commissioned. The family owned and operated unit earned its claim to fame, not by its gorgeous framework, but by its esteemed literary guest. Tennesse Williams, William Faulkner, and Ernest Hemingway all reference this magnificent hotel in their works. William and Faulker even stayed here as a way to procure inspiration. Its association and reference in these classic works of writing have earned its place as an official literary landmark.
4 Book and Bed
Bibliphhilios will revel at this fascinating opportunity. This hostel is Tokyo, Japan encourages its guests to curl up and read during their stay. Their rooms are cushioned with walls of books so that anyone can find something that they might enjoy. Did we mention that your bed would be inside an actual bookshelf? Yep, finally a place to breath in that famous book-smell. You'll be surrounded by stacked wooden shelves inside your cozy oasis. If you can put down your book, you can scurry into their lobby and enjoy a refreshing coffee in the cafe.
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3 Zhongshuge
Zhongshuge looks like an endless tunnel of books. This beautiful architecture is sure to make any book-lover swoon, but really, it's all just a fantasy. To make this bookshop in China look like an endless unit of reading supply, black mirrors are laid out on the ground floor, and the bookshelves are built at an arc to give into the illusion. The idea to make this room look like a flowing river of books actually comes from the city of Yangzhou itself. Some of China's greatest writers drew inspiration from the town's endless supply of rivers and canals. So naturally, there needed to be a bookshop to pay homage to it.
2 Hay-on-Wye, Wales
This little town doubles as a ceaseless bookshop. At just about every corner, wanderers will find one of the town's antique bookshops. Bibliophiles in the U.K frequent this tiny village to get their hands on coveted titles or second-hand novels. There are over two dozen bookshops in Hay-on-Wye, which is why locals refer to it as the "town of books."
1 Ernest Hemingway House
The Florida Keys is famous for its sun and sand, which is actually what drew in classic artists like Ernest Hemingway. Hemingway spent a part of his life nestled into this tropical oasis. His former home now acts as a museum in his honor, where book lovers can see how the famous author once lived. You can take a 30-minute guided tour for just $14 and learn all about Hemingway's writing process and time in the Keys. You'll get to see key features of the home, including its luscious gardens. Visitors will more than likely also catch a glimpse of the home's cats. The home holds 40-50 polydactyl, or six-toed, cats in remembrance of Hemingway's own polydactyl cat. Hemingway named his cats after famous people, and the Hemingway House continues to follow his tradition to this day!
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8 Books for Women in Translation Month
Kendra Winchester
Kendra Winchester is a Contributing Editor for Book Riot where she writes about audiobooks and disability literature. She is also the Founder of Read Appalachia , which celebrates Appalachian literature and writing. Previously, Kendra co-founded and served as Executive Director for Reading Women , a podcast that gained an international following over its six-season run. In her off hours, you can find her writing on her Substack, Winchester Ave , and posting photos of her Corgis on Instagram and Twitter @kdwinchester.
View All posts by Kendra Winchester
Founded by Meytal Radzinski, Women in Translation Month encourages readers to pick up more books by women in translation. Like it says on the #WITMonth website , only 36% of books translated into English are from non-European countries, and less than 31% of translations into English are written by women. Radzinski gives readers hundreds of recommendations, keeps track of new releases, and even created a #WITMonth BINGO board!
In honor of Women in Translation Month, I’ve pulled together eight of my favorite books by women in translation from around the world. Some of these stories are dark and mysterious with a touch of magic. Others are gritty, rooted in their own version of reality. Still others delve into the past, another time when the world looked very different. But each of these books is written by a woman with a story to tell and ideas they want to share with the world.
![bookriot literary tourism a graphic of the cover Cursed Bunny by Bora Chung](https://s2982.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Cursed-Bunny.jpeg.webp)
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Cursed Bunny by Bora Chung, Translated by Anton Hur
A finalist for the 2023 National Book Award for Translated Literature, Cursed Bunny is a fantastical short story collection that includes horror, sci-fi, and fairytales. Whether it’s a head made of human waste that comes alive in a woman’s toilet or the titular cursed bunny lamp that dooms a rich family to ruin, every story is unique and is sure to capture readers’ attention from the very first page.
![bookriot literary tourism a graphic of the cover of Our Share of Night by Mariana Enriquez](https://s2982.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Our-Share-of-Night.jpeg.webp)
Our Share of Night by Mariana Enriquez, Translated by Megan McDowell
The novel opens during the Argentinian dictatorship in the late 1970s and early 1980s. A young father is taking his son out of Buenos Aires to visit his in-laws, but we as the readers can tell something bigger is going on. What unfolds is a horror novel that takes place over the course of several decades. Each new section reveals more about the evil that waits for the man and his son.
![bookriot literary tourism a graphic of the cover of My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante](https://s2982.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/My-Brilliant-Friend.jpeg.webp)
My Brilliant Friend: The Graphic Novel by Elena Ferrante, Adapted by Chiara Lagani, Illustrated by Mara Cerri, Translated by Ann Goldstein
Recently named the #1 best book of the 21st century by The New York Times Book Review , My Brilliant Friend is loved by millions of book lovers around the world. Now, it’s a graphic novel adapted by Chiara Lagani and illustrated by Mara Cerri. It’s 1950s Naples, and Elena and Lila are best friends. They’re bright young girls determined to make something of themselves. But through different circumstances, Elena is able to continue her education and Lila is not.
![bookriot literary tourism a graphic of the cover of Elena Knows by Claudia Piñeiro](https://s2982.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Elena-Knows.jpeg.webp)
Elena Knows by Claudia Piñeiro, Translated by Frances Riddle
Shortlisted for the International Booker Prize in 2022, Elena Knows has, arguably, become Claudia Piñeiro’s most beloved novel translated into English. When everyone thinks Elena’s daughter dies by suicide, Elena is determined to find out what really happened to her. Elena’s story is told over the course of one day as she investigates her daughter’s death.
![bookriot literary tourism a graphic of the cover of Mouthful of Birds by Samanta Schweblin](https://s2982.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Mouthful-of-Birds.jpeg.webp)
Mouthful of Birds by Samanta Schweblin, Translated by Megan McDowell
Critically acclaimed Argentinian writer Samanta Schweblin is known for her unsettling style of storytelling. My favorite book of hers is Mouthful of Birds , a short story collection that pushes the boundaries of what is possible in short fiction. Each story challenges readers’ assumptions, often taking fantastical turns into the unexplainable.
![bookriot literary tourism a graphic of a cover of I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki](https://s2982.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/I-Want-to-Die-but-I-Want-to-Eat-Tteokbokki.jpeg.webp)
I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki : A Memoir by Baek Sehee, Translated by Anton Hur
In this bestselling memoir, Baek Sehee describes her experience grappling with depression. While on the outside she seems to have the perfect life as a social media director for a publishing house, on the inside, she finds herself sinking down into her depression. I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki follows her experience seeking help and her efforts in fighting for a better life.
![bookriot literary tourism a graphic of the cover of The Book of Jacob by Olga Tokarczuk](https://s2982.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/The-Books-of-Jacob.jpeg.webp)
The Books of Jacob by Olga Tokarczuk, Translated by Jennifer Croft
Nobel Prize winner Olga Tokarczuk is a Polish literary legend. Her novels Flights and Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead introduced her work to English language readers. Her magnum opus, The Book of Jacob , came out to much acclaim, including being longlisted for the 2022 National Book Award in Translated Literature. The Book of Jacob is set in the 1700s and follows Jacob, a young Jewish man who reinvents himself and gains a large following.
![bookriot literary tourism a graphic of the cover of Butter: A Novel of Food and Murder by Asako Yuzuki](https://s2982.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Butter.jpeg.webp)
Butter: A Novel of Food and Murder by Asako Yuzuki, Translated by Polly Barton
Rika, a struggling journalist in Japan, receives the break of a lifetime when she gets the opportunity to interview Manako Kajii, a gourmet chef and notorious serial killer. But as she gets to know Manako Kajii, she finds herself falling under her spell and begins to look at her own life in new ways.
Looking for more? Check out 10 Books for Women in Translation Month and this great post on 5 Ways to Join Women in Translation Month ! Book Riot also has great recommendations all year long in our In Translation archives .
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Journey to majestic literary retreats close to Moscow
![bookriot literary tourism The poet, Mikhail Lermontov spent his summers, as a teenager in the 1830s, at this 19th-century estate Serednikovo just north of Moscow. Source: Phoebe Taplin](https://mf.b37mrtl.ru/rbthmedia/images/web/en-rbth/images/2013-02/big/Serednikovo468.jpg)
The poet, Mikhail Lermontov spent his summers, as a teenager in the 1830s, at this 19th-century estate Serednikovo just north of Moscow. Source: Phoebe Taplin
One of Moscow’s great attractions is the chance to walk in the footsteps of the world’s great writers: Tolstoy and Chekhov, Pushkin and Pasternak. The city center is crowded with literary museums and memorials, but you can also make atmospheric trips into the countryside and suburbs to discover lakeside mansions or dachas in the forest. Some will be well known to booklovers, but other literary retreats are hidden gems even for life-long Muscovites.
Picnics with Poets
Serednikovo
The poet, Mikhail Lermontov , famous for his Byronic tales of the Caucasus , spent his summers, as a teenager in the 1830s, at this 19th-century estate just north of Moscow, which once belonged to his grandmother. The neoclassical mansion is linked by colonnades to four wings, each with its own belvedere, designed to look out over the park.
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After the revolution, the buildings housed a tuberculosis sanatorium named “Mtsyri” after one of Lermontov’s poems. In 1992, the Lermontov Center secured a 50-year lease on the estate and restored the interiors.
The wooded grounds are a great destination in their own right, with a lake, tearoom, riding school, natural spring, stone bridges and avenues of lime and larch trees. Visitors can catch a train from Leningradsky Station to Firsanovka and then catch bus No. 40.
The estate’s website has a map and the number (+79250106240) to call to arrange excursions (in Russian) around the main house, which is only accessible via a tour.
![bookriot literary tourism](https://cdni.rbth.com/rbthmedia/images/web/en-rbth/images/2013-03/big/lori-0001957581_Zakharovo_468.jpg)
The young poet Pushkin spent several summers in Zakharovo estate. Source: Lori/Legion Media
The poet Alexander Pushkin also spent many childhood summers in the Moscow countryside with his grandmother. Maria Hannibal was descended from Pushkin’s enslaved-African-great-grandfather and her reconstructed house is now a museum with an annual Pushkin Festival on the first Sunday in June.
A statue of Pushkin with his grandmother marks the poet’s favorite place, where, as a child, he said he wanted to be buried, while a second boyish bronze figure looks out across the lake. Trains run from Belorussky Station and take about an hour.
Shakhmatovo
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The symbolist poet Alexander Blok is not very well known outside Russia, but the beautiful country estate of Shakhmatovo is worth visiting even if you have never heard of him. Source: Lori/Legion Media
A visit to the wooden house where the poet Alexander Blok lived, surrounded by flowering meadows, is a lovely day trip. Blok’s grandfather called it “a corner of paradise not far from Moscow.”
The nearby village of Tarakanovo has a monument to the poet and his wife next to the dilapidated church where they married, and a small museum. The main estate, a mile away along a country lane, includes a faithful reconstruction of Blok’s charming house , set in wooded gardens, sloping down to a pond.
Tea with Tolstoy, Chekhov or Pasternak
Yasnaya Polyana
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Tolstoy spent most of his life in Yasnaya polyana, and almost all of his books were written there. Source: Lori /Legion Media
Leo Tolstoy’s country estate, near Tula, about three hours south of Moscow is probably the most popular literary day trip and it is certainly worth the journey. The author of War and Peace was born and buried (under a grassy mound) at Yasnaya Polyana and lived most of the intervening 82 years there too.
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Prince Sergei Volkonsky, Tolstoy’s maternal grandfather, bought the land in 1763 and built his manor house at the top of the hill.
The atmosphere inside Tolstoy’s house, with its vine-covered veranda, is powerfully charged with reminders of the writer’s life. There are portraits, books and clothes that create that special house-museum illusion that the writer has simply popped out for a walk and might be back for tea. The final room on the tour is the downstairs library, where Tolstoy wrote Anna Karenina .
The museum website gives directions and opening times. There is a log café opposite the gate where you can get a cup of tea or bowl of homemade soup.
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Chekhov’s estate Melekhovo in the Moscow region tells the story of the writer’s countryside life and creativity. Source: Lori /Legion Media
Anton Chekhov's country estate south of Moscow hosts a "Melikhovo Spring" international theater festival each year in May, when the garden is full of lilac and cherry blossom. The playwright wrote "The Seagull," "Uncle Vanya," and many of his short stories, while he lived in this wooden house, from 1892 until 1899, before his worsening TB forced him to move south to Yalta.
Trains to the town of Chekhov leave fairly regularly from Kursky Station and take about an hour and a half. From there, the No. 25 bus or a taxi can take you to the little village of Melikhovo . There is no cafe at the museum so stock up in town.
Peredelkino
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Peredelkino, which is just a twenty-minute train ride from Moscow, is a cluster of literary dachas. Source: ITAR-TASS
The village where Boris Pasternak wrote Dr Zhivago is just half an hour west of Kievsky Station. The title poem of his 1943 collection, "On Early Trains," describes this journey from Moscow on the electric train, the "lemon-with-incense breath" of the pine trees and the lily of the valley, whose delicate white flowers can still be found in the woods around the writers’ village at Peredelkino.
The interior of Pasternak’s white-trimmed brown dacha is markedly austere. In the bare bedroom and study are his boots, coat and hat. The conservatory, with its samovar and cups, looks out onto the overgrown orchard. The memorial house-museum of Russia's best-loved children's author, Kornei Chukovsky, with its ‘wonder tree' covered in shoes, is round the corner and also worth visiting.
Inspirational suburbs and cemeteries
Troitse Lykovo
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Alexander Solzhenitsyn spend his final years шт Troitse-Lykovo. Source: Lori /Legion Media
Alexander Solzhenitsyn , whose books about life in Stalin’s gulags are known around the world, is buried in the picturesque Donskoy cemetery. Fans might also be tempted to visit the village where the reclusive writer, who died in 2008, chose to spend his final years .
The orchards, dachas and gold-domed churches of Troitse Lykovo are like an island of old Russia among the skyscrapers of modern Moscow. The village is on top of a riverside cliff, across the Moscow River from the island of Serebryany Bor (“silver pine forest”). Strogino is the nearest metro station.
Novodevichy Cemetery
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Chekhov was buried next to his father at the Novodevichy Cemetery. Source: Lori /Legion Media
The world-famous Novodevichy Convent, with its celebrity cemetery, is close to Sportivnaya metro. Through the archway into the older section is Gogol’s bust or Bulgakov ’s boulder. Nearby, visitors can spot the graves of actors and directors from the Moscow Arts’ Theater marked with the stylized seagull logo, along with Chekhov’s elegant art nouveau arch, under the autumn leaves or the falling snow.
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A literary tour of Russia
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Jan 18, 2018 • 6 min read
![bookriot literary tourism The monument to the great Russian writer Fyodor Dostoevsky in Moscow © Lagutkin Alexey / Shutterstock](https://lp-cms-production.imgix.net/features/2018/01/Dostoevsky-monument-Moscow-ecf0413e92b0.jpg?w=1440&h=810&fit=crop&auto=format&q=75)
The monument to the great Russian writer Fyodor Dostoevsky in Moscow © Lagutkin Alexey / Shutterstock
Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries Russia produced towering figures of world literature, including Pushkin, Chekhov, Tolstoy and Solzhenitsyn. Many of their former homes and places associated with these literary titans have been turned into museums or are tourist attractions in their own right. Visiting them can help provide an insight into what inspired their prose, poems and plays.
![bookriot literary tourism The monument to writer Fyodor Dostoevsky in front of the Russian State Library in Moscow © Lagutkin Alexey / Shutterstock](https://lp-cms-production.imgix.net/features/2018/01/Dostoevsky-monument-Moscow-ecf0413e92b0.jpg?w=1920&auto=format&q=75)
The legacy of poet Alexander Pushkin looms large over Russia’s literary landscape. The author of Eugene Onegin was born in Moscow and there you can visit two museums devoted to his life and times – as well as the statue on the square named after him and the nearby haute-russe restaurant that also bears his name. Prioritise the Pushkin Literary Museum , which provides a thorough overview of the historical events that influenced the writer and also reverentially displays his personal effects. Fans might also want to swing by the Pushkin House-Museum , where the poet lived with his wife Natalia Goncharova for three months after their marriage in 1831.
Novelist Leo Tolstoy also chalks up two museums in Moscow: the modest Tolstoy Estate-Museum , where the author of War and Peace and Anna Karenina spent winters with his family between 1882 and 1901; and the Tolstoy Literary Museum , packed with manuscripts, letters and artworks about the writer.
![bookriot literary tourism The characters from The Master and Margarita at the entrance to the Mikhail Bulgakov Museum in Moscow © Kira Tverskaya / Lonely Planet](https://lp-cms-production.imgix.net/features/2018/01/Moscow-Bulgakov-Museum-f6bd74cfaecf.jpg?w=1920&auto=format&q=75)
A contemporary of Tolstoy, playwright Anton Chekhov lived in a red-painted house in the city for four years before decamping to a country estate at Melikhovo. It was here that Chekhov penned The Seagull and Uncle Vanya . Also finding solace and inspiration in Moscow’s outskirts was Boris Pasternak, the Nobel Prize–winning author of Doctor Zhivago . His house-museum is in Peredelkino, a village of brightly painted dachas (summer houses) where the poet is also buried.
Back in central Moscow, statues of two roguish characters from The Master and Margarita greet visitors to the Mikhail Bulgakov Museum . The satirical writer lived with his wife Tatyana Lappa in apartment 50 of this art nouveau block for several years in the 1920s. Nearby, you can stroll around the pretty Patriarch’s Ponds , which features at the start of The Master and Margarita as the place where the devil appears in Moscow.
![bookriot literary tourism The entrance to the Anna Akhmatova Museum at the Fountain House in St Petersburg © Simon Richmond / Lonely Planet](https://lp-cms-production.imgix.net/features/2018/01/Anna-Akhmatova-museum-Moscow-44f09ce1dc8e.jpg?w=1920&auto=format&q=75)
St Petersburg
The writer perhaps most associated with St Petersburg, the former imperial capital, is Fyodor Dostoevsky. Walking tour companies have made quite a business out of creating itineraries based on the places where the author lived and the locations he used in novels including Crime and Punishment and The Idiot . A museum occupies Dostoevsky’s final home near Vladimirskaya metro station, outside which is a statue of the writer. Pay your respects at his grave in Tikhvin Cemetery within the precincts of the Alexander Nevsky Monastery , an atmospheric location where Dostoevsky keeps company with the likes of composers Tchaikovsky and Mussorgsky.
![bookriot literary tourism The statue of the character from Gogol's short story The Nose in St Petersburg's University Sculpture Garden © Simon Richmond / Lonely Planet](https://lp-cms-production.imgix.net/features/2018/01/Gogol-nose-St-Petersburg-b4214fe62f91.jpg?w=1920&auto=format&q=75)
Not as well known in the English-speaking world but highly revered in Russia is the 20th-century poet Anna Akhmatova. Her tragic life under communism informed her work, and you can learn about both at the excellent Anna Akhmatova Museum at the Fountain House , in the apartment where she lived between 1926 and 1952. Nathan Altman’s famous portrait of a regal Akhmatova from 1914 hangs in the Russian Museum , and several statues of the poet are located around the city, including a 3m-tall bronze that stares forlornly across the Neva River towards Kresty Prison – a notorious (and still operational) facility where both Akhmatova’s son and common-law husband were incarcerated during Stalin’s time of terror.
St Petersburg is also associated with Pushkin: you can visit the site where the Romantic poet was fatally wounded in a duel on 8 February 1837 and the flat where, later that day, he died. A statue of the bard, typically crowned by pigeons, stands on Arts Square.
![bookriot literary tourism The lilac-painted villa at the estate of Ivan Turgenev in Spasskoe-Lutovinovo near Oryol © Simon Richmond / Lonely Planet](https://lp-cms-production.imgix.net/features/2018/01/Estate-of-Ivan-Turgenev-Russia-a5b3fb5e4f95.jpg?w=1920&auto=format&q=75)
Western European Russia
‘Happy is he who is happy at home’, wrote Leo Tolstoy. Never was the writer more content than at his country estate of Yasnaya Polyana , 14km south of Tula. This bucolic estate, where Tolstoy was born and enjoyed a ‘bath of country life’, has been preserved just as it was when the writer passed away in 1910. His unmarked grave is in the nearby forest, and inside the estate’s main house you can view artefacts of his aristocratic family.
The model for the fictional town of Skotoprigonyevsk in The Brothers Karamazov, Staraya Russa is an idyllic town on the banks of the Polist River. It was here that Dostoevsky spent several summers and wrote much of his celebrated novel. The dacha that was the author’s base is preserved as a museum ; elsewhere in town the Dostoevsky Cultural Centre hosts temporary exhibitions and organises tours.
Ivan Turgenev’s most famous work is Fathers and Sons, a novel that was met with such a hostile reaction at the time of its publication in 1862 that Turgenev left Russia. In happier years, the writer grew up and spent much of his adult life at Spasskoe-Lutovinovo , an estate given to his family by Ivan the Terrible located 65km north of Oryol. Particularly charming is the lilac-painted wooden villa that was the main family home. In Oryol itself you’ll also find several literary museums devoted to local men of letters, the most famous of which is that of Nobel Prize winner Ivan Bunin .
![bookriot literary tourism The statue of Russian poet, playwright and novelist Alexander Pushkin in Kislovodsk's Kurortny Park © Simon Richmond / Lonely Planet](https://lp-cms-production.imgix.net/features/2018/01/Pushkin-statue-Kislovodsk-6da93a3c45b4.jpg?w=1920&auto=format&q=75)
More Nobel Prize winners
Scattered to the north and south of Russia are two more locations that are associated with Russian writers awarded the Nobel Prize. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn described the Solovetsky Islands in the White Sea as ‘the mother of the gulag’. These remote islands, one of which is home to a 15th-century World Heritage–listed monastery , had long been used as a place of exile before Stalin deemed them perfect for his forced labour camps. The islands feature in Solzhenitsyn’s major work Gulag Archipelago .
Opened in 2015, the Sholokhov Museum-Reserve in Rostov-on-Don is devoted to Mikhail Sholokhov, a Nobel laureate in 1965. His most famous works – And Quiet Flows the Don and The Don Flows Home to the Sea – are epics of Cossack life before and during WWI and during the Russian Civil War. The Don River flows through this gateway to the Russian Caucasus and promenading along its banks is one of Rostov-on-Don’s highlights.
Deeper into the Caucasus are the Mineral Waters region spa towns Pyatigorsk and Kislovodsk. Both are associated with the hot-headed, Romantic 19th-century writer Mikhail Lermontov who spent time in these parts before dying in a duel, aged just 26, in 1841. You can visit the duel site in Pyatigorsk, where there is also a museum based in the thatched cottage in which the writer of A Hero of Our Time lived. A monument in Kislovodsk’s Kurortny Park also celebrates Lermontov; peer into the grotto here to see a red-eyed demon that features in one of Lermontov’s poems.
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IMAGES
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Literary Tourism: Provincetown, Massachusetts Eileen Gonzalez August 21, 2023. Join me for a bookish tour of Provincetown's historic district. If you're a queer book lover, you could hardly find a better place to travel! How Queer-Owned Bookstores are Celebrating Pride Month
A Kind of Freedom by Margaret Wilkerson Sexton. Set in New Orleans after World War II, in the 1980s, and following Hurricane Katrina, A Kind Of Freedom is a powerful commentary on past and present Jim Crow and racial disparity in the South. The story follows Evelyn, her daughter Jackie, and Jackie's son T.C. as they navigate life over the ...
The store is also home to the Black Widow Salon, hosted by bookseller and author Michael Allen Zell. The long-running series comes to an end on December 7, with a visit from songwriters Ratty Scurvics and John Porter. Zell is the one that I would point to as the expert on all things literary in New Orleans. He pointed me to several of the other ...
Here's just a taste of what awaits the literary pilgrim in Maine: Nestled on the banks of the Penobscot River, Bangor is home to bestselling writer Stephen King, whose Victorian mansion, a mecca for fans, is on a street full of gracious homes once owned by nineteenth-century timber barons. The house is surrounded by a 270-foot-long wrought ...
Literary Tourism: A Book Lover's Guide to Road Tripping Up California's Coast. Alison Peters Feb 2, 2014. My California is a state that's best lived outdoors, with a book or two in your backpack. There is much more to the Golden State than Los Angeles and San Francisco, especially when it comes to pursuits of a literary nature.
Literary Tourism: A Book Lover's Guide to Washington, DC. Rachel Manwill Jan 19, 2014. Most people, when they think of Washington, DC, they think of politics. Capitol Hill, lobbyists, politicians, scandal, Kevin Spacey, cherry blossoms if we're lucky. But DC has a rich literary tradition and wonderful hidden gems among the most well-known ...
Epilogue Books. Located just north of Grand Rapids, Epilogue Books carries a tremendous regional section. They have a variety of books on nature, history, outdoor, sports teams, and travel in West Michigan. The bookstore carries all genres of books, and you can always find unique gifts created by local artists.
The American Writer's Museum. The first national museum dedicated to our country's writers was opened on May 16 of this year in Chicago at 180 N. Michigan. Permanent exhibits include a 60-foot-long multi-layered wall that "takes visitors on a journey through the literary history of the United States," featuring 100 authors that show ...
Literary Tourism: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Rio de Janeiro is the kind of place that you can only think of like a dream. With a slow guitar playing Bossa Nova at the same time that the sun sets behind the waves painting the green tropical mountains red. Rio is a city that definitely doesn't lack beauty, and many writers, poets, and musicians ...
Acrylic & Gouache on Paper over Wood 35.5″ x 47″ x 0.5″. The Tale of Genji Museum. Arguably Japan's greatest literary classic, The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu is an epic story full of court intrigue that takes place partly in Uji, a city just south of Kyoto where the Tale of Genji Museum is now located.
# Literary Tourism. Moving Abroad to Dubai and Finding Bookish Things Summer Loomis February 27, 2020. A newcomer in the United Arab Emirates seeks out the bookish corners of her new home, exploring a festival, the library, and more in literary Dubai. Literary Tourism: Austin, Texas
Kolkata is an important component in Jhumpa Lahiri's second novel. The book derives its name from the marshy lowlands of Kolkata. A beautifully written story about two brothers with drastically different destinies, it explores themes of loss, duty, and familial love against the backdrop of the city. Take a tour of literary Kolkata, India ...
Literary tourism is nothing new. Socrates, who trekking out to Delphi a millennia or two ago looking for truth, could be called a literary tourist; the beardless young Greeks who went to book discussion circles to hear him denigrate the Gods could also be called literary tourists. As could those wh
BookRiot has launched a fantastic new series of posts: itineraries for bookish road trips across the United States. The first installment took you literally coast to coast via Interstate 90; the second doesn't make it all the way across, but provides plenty of amusement close to Interstate 70.. But no matter if you're staying home or in need of one more vacation this summer, check out the ...
BookRiot has launched a fantastic new series of posts: itineraries for bookish road trips across the United States. The first installment took you literally coast to coast via Interstate 90; the second doesn't make it all the way across, but provides plenty of amusement close to Interstate 70.. But no matter if you're staying home or in need of one more vacation this summer, check out the ...
This book offers new insight into the diversity of the literary tourism landscape, the range of experiences and visitors and the variety of interpretive responses that may be appropriate. The relationship between literary fiction and other forms of media such as film and digital culture are also explored. International in scope, this volume ...
9 Trinity College. This college in Dublin, Ireland is a novel enthusiasts dream. The campus holds one of the most exquisite and gorgeous libraries in all of Europe. Built on several stories the shelves of books both new and old seem endless. The Library of Trinity College is the largest library in all of Ireland, with over five million books ...
Top 10 Literary Things to Do in Scotland: Wigtown Book Festival. Named "One of the best autumn festivals in the world.' in The Telegraph. The Wigtown Book Festival is a 300-event plus festival covering a myriad of artforms every Sep/Oct. Wigtown Book Festival's attendance grew 18% between 2014 and 2016.
10. Anna Akhmatova Museum, St. Petersburg. Anna Akhmatova Museum, St. Petersburg. Source: Lori / Legion Media. Anna Akhmatova is one of Russia's most well-known poets. Born in 1889, her career ...
One of the most compelling characters in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain is Jim, the older man whom Huck befriends on his journeys post-death faking. In the process of escaping his enslavement, Jim gets caught up in Huck escaping his own father, deals with con artists, and must use his wits to survive in a world that is dead-set against him.
As writer and 15 year Rio resident Elizabeth Bishop put it, "Mexico City and Miami combined is about the closest I can come to it, and men in bathing trunks kicking footballs all over the place. They begin on the beach at 7 every morning—and keep it up apparently at their places of business all over town, all day long. It is enervating, completely relaxed (in spite of the terrific coffee ...
A finalist for the 2023 National Book Award for Translated Literature, Cursed Bunny is a fantastical short story collection that includes horror, sci-fi, and fairytales. Whether it's a head made of human waste that comes alive in a woman's toilet or the titular cursed bunny lamp that dooms a rich family to ruin, every story is unique and is sure to capture readers' attention from the ...
A literary publication that informs and inspires readers, featuring fascinating stories, useful advice, and more from the largest independent editorial book site in North America. Click to read The Deep Dive, a Substack publication.
The city center is crowded with literary museums and memorials, but you can also make atmospheric trips into the countryside and suburbs to discover lakeside mansions or dachas in the forest
Moscow. The legacy of poet Alexander Pushkin looms large over Russia's literary landscape. The author of Eugene Onegin was born in Moscow and there you can visit two museums devoted to his life and times - as well as the statue on the square named after him and the nearby haute-russe restaurant that also bears his name. Prioritise the Pushkin Literary Museum, which provides a thorough ...
These Hotels Are Offering Literary-Themed Getaways For Book Lovers. Aug 9, 2024, 10:41am EDT. ... In 2017, it adopted a plan to develop diverse attractions and promote sustainable tourism. Since ...
Nature tourism was another facet of Russia's appeal. With over 100 nature reserves and 50 national parks, including the stunning Lake Baikal and the Valley of Geysers, Russia was a paradise for ...
Virtuoso surveyed hundreds of travel agencies and more than 12,000 high-end travel advisors to select the winners in each category, ranging from the most innovative experience to the best ...