Postcard from Bishkek

I don’t often write postcards about places “over the border” but I recently came across this story that I thought deserved a wider audience. Some time ago I was in one of the bookshops here in Bishkek and checking out their stock of books in English, and I came across a series of “readers” … […]

A few weeks ago I received a copy of a book, (Thirteen Steps Towards the Fate of Erika Klaus), by the Kyrgyz author Kazat Akmatov and was asked if I could write a short review. To be honest, although I knew the author’s name, I had never read any of his works so I found […]

A few weeks ago I received a copy of a new book – Thirteen Steps Towards the Fate of Erika Klaus, written by the Kyrgy author Kazat Akmatov, but translated into and published in English … and which, incidentally, is being launched at an event in London tomorrow. Normally, I would have been delighted as, […]

The other day I was given the copy of a book, Friendly Steppes: A Silk Road Journey by Nick Rowan. I happen to know Nick, not very well – we both have connections with a publishing house based in the UK and, although I have met him a couple of time  I have met him […]

I have recently finished reading an interesting book: Russian and Nomad, by Edward Nelson Fell. To be absolutely honest, it was all a mistake … the subtitle which had attracted my attention was Tales of the Kirghiz Steppes. I thought I was getting a book about Russian expansion into Central Asia, and indeed I was […]

This evening, at six thirty, there will be Book Launch as part of the Open Central Asia Forum and Literature Festival which is being held here Bishkek. There are two books to be presented: The first is Chants of the Dark Fire, a book of Poety by Ahulduz Baizakova, who is a former Kazakh diplomat as […]

It’s a long time since I have been back to Britain … but one of the things on my “To Do” whenever I did was to go and visit the bookshops on the Charing Cross Road in Central London. For many years, one of the problems of life in Bishkek was the fact that it […]

The name of Claudius Bombarnac might not ring a bell … but the name of his creator, Jules Verne, almost certainly will. Jules Verne was a French writer who was a pioneer of science fiction, who was born 184 years ago; on 8th February, 1828. His father was a mid-ranking magistrate who had married well […]

The latest issue of the magazine Discovery Central Asia has landed on my desk. To be honest, it sat on my desk for a few days as I got on with the routine work, until I found myself with some spare moments waiting for someone to turn up for a meeting.  I like being busy […]

Earlier this week, I had an interesting visitor drop into the office: Mukan Asanaliev.  He is a businessman that I have known for several years, but this time he wasn’t coming to tell me about his yurts by Son Kul Lake, his café in Boom Gorge or any of his other business projects. He had […]