August 7

Vladimir Sorokin

Vladimir Sorokin (Влади́мир Гео́ргиевич Соро́кин; born August 7, 1955) Russian playwright, screenwriter, novelist

Sorokin discusses his short story “Red Pyramid” here

In the Soviet Union, the beginning of the sixties, after Yuri Gagarin’s space flight, saw the last burst of “romantic” Communism. This was the ideal time to meet with an angel who could tell the mystical truth about Lenin and Stalin’s project. In the thirties, Yura would just have run away from this strange man, assuming him to be a White Guardsman who somehow hadn’t been finished off. In the harsh wartime forties, Yura would have paid no attention to him, as if he were merely an insane person. And, in the ironic seventies, when nobody believed in Communism at all anymore, Yura would simply have agreed with the fat man.

Watch a lecture about Sorokin's literary works

Watch a German language profile of Vladimir Sorokin
 here


Ben Bradlee Jr.

Ben Bradlee Jr. (born August 7, 1948) U.S. journalist, editor, writer.

Read more about Bradlee, Jr. here

Visit the website of Ben Bradlee, Jr.

Ben Bradlee, Jr. talks about his book
 THE KID, THE IMMORTAL LIFE OF TED WILLIAMS


Garrison Keillor

Garrison Keillor (born August 7, 1942) – U.S. humorist, essayist, and radio producer, writer, and host of A Prairie Home Companion – Lake Wobegon Days (1985)

Listen to radio interviews of Garrison Keillor here

Garrison Keillor performs
 "The News from Lake Wobegone"