Vasilina Orlova

Vasilina Orlova is an anthropologist and poet. She holds the Russian equivalent of a Ph.D. in Philosophy from Moscow State University (Kandidat of Philosophical Sciences, 2013). She is a Ph.D. in Anthropology (earned from the University of Texas at Austin).

Orlova's prose and poetry in English have appeared in collected volumes and journals, including website of Cultural Anthropology, Sibirica, Slavic Review, The End of Austin, Texas Linguistics Forum, Blue Bonnet Review, Figroot Press, Bloodstone Review, and Visions International. She is the author of books of poetry in English: Contemporary Bestiary and Holy Robots (Gutenberg Printing Press Independent Group, Austin; 2014, 2016).

In Russian, Orlova has published books of autofiction, prose, and poetry, the last being Anthropology of Everydayness (Antropologia povsednevnosti, Nookratia, 2018). Orlova's works appeared in prominent Russian literary journals, including Noviy Mir, Druzhba Narodov, Moskva, and Oktyabr.

Orlova's literary work has received several awards in Russia, including the Crystal Rose of Victor Rozov and the Anton Delvig Poetry Prize. She has published philosophic essays on free will and the Russian philosopher Vasily Rozanov in the journals Svobodnaya Mysl and Topos, in Russian.

Orlova’s works have been translated into Bulgarian, Dutch, English, French, Russian, Spanish, and Ukrainian.

Born in 1979 in Dunay in the Russian Far East, Orlova has lived in Moscow, London, and Austin. She is a member of the American Anthropological Association and Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies. She dreams about becoming a gardener and caring of her petunias.

Books by Vasilina Orlova

In English (poetry)

Holy Robots

Contemporary Bestiary

In Russian (prose, poetry, essays)

Antropologia povsednevnosti (Anthropology of Everydayness)

Londonsky dnevnik (London Diary)

Mificheskaya geographia (Mythical Geography)

Kvartet (Quartet)

Russkiy ostrov (Russky Island/Russian Island)

Bossikom (Barefoot)

Trapesa bogomola (Supper of the Praying Mantis)

Pustinya (The Wilderness)

V opravdanie vodi (In Defense of Water)

Stat’ zhenshchinoi ne pozdneye ponedel’nika (To Become a Woman on Monday)

Vchera (Yesterday)

Odnova Zhivem (We Live Only Once)

In Bulgarian (prose)

Shipkata (English Rose). Translated by Sylvia Nikolova and Valentin Kornilev