Topic: IRAS Friends and Family
BELLA VERNIKOVA grew up in the Brezhnev era and was convinced of the need for a Perestroika in Soviet Russia long before its finally occurring. She was born and raised in Odessa, the Black Seaport famous for musical prodigies, smugglers, gangsters; its mud and dirt; and for its heroic defense against the Nazis in World War II. Her love for her city is an important theme and gainsays an underlying disillusionment. Her work has appeared in leading Soviet literary magazines such as Raduga (Rainbow) and Yunost (Youth).
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