Have journalists ever been under pressure from so many directions and how can they combat those pressures? This session looks at the power of propaganda machines to influence, or try to influence, the...
Maria Stepanova
founder and editor Colta.ru
Maria Stepanova is a poet, essayist, journalist, author of ten poetry collections and two books of essays, and a recipient of several Russian and international literary awards (including the prestigious Andrey Bely Prize and Joseph Brodsky Fellowship). Her poems have been translated into numerous languages including English, Italian, German, French and Hebrew. She has taken part in a number of Russian and international literary festivals and programs focusing on modern poetry. Her opinion pieces on the current situation in the Russian political and media landscape have been published in English and German. Her current project is In memory of memory, a book-length study in the field of cultural history.
Since 2007, apart from publishing as a poet and essayist, Maria Stepanova has become the founder and editor-in-chief of an independent online journal OpenSpace.ru, Russia's main daily online edition covering cultural issues. Later she reconfigured it as the crowd-sourced journal COLTA.RU. Since July 2012 COLTA.RU has existed solely on public donations. It focuses on the cultural, social and political reality of contemporary Russia, with an audience of 900,000 unique visitors per month.
Maria is married, has a son, and is a lifelong resident of Moscow.
For further information on Maria see the article entitled Moscow journalist Maria Stepanova to speak about Russia's future.