The Disappearing Act cover.
September 16, 2026

Conversations with Anon.

Alice Oswald and Maria Stepanova
OTHER, PARIS
Reid Hall | 4, rue de Chevreuse, 75006 Paris
Free and open to the public / Registration required
Register here

Proof of registration, via a QR code on your phone or on paper, will be required to enter Reid Hall. Entry will be refused to those who are not registered.

Please note that access will not be permitted 15 minutes after the start of the event.

This event will be held in English.

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The poets Alice Oswald and Maria Stepanova, both former Institute Fellows, will be in conversation on the occasion of the publication of Alice Oswald’s new book, Rhapsody: A Manifesto, and Maria Stepanova’s latest novel The Disappearing Act, translated by Sasha Dugdale.

Alice Oswald lives in Devon and has worked as a gardener and poet. She has a particular interest in oral and anonymous poetry and has published three anthologies and seven poetry collections, including DartMemorial, and Falling Awake. Among her distinctions are the Griffin Poetry Prize and the Ted Hughes Award for New Work in Poetry. From 2019 to 2023, she was the Oxford Professor in Poetry.

Maria Stepanova  is a poet, essayist and editor, the recipient of several Russian and international literary awards, including the Leipzig Book Prize for European Understanding (2023). Her poems have been translated into a number of languages, including English, German, French, Italian, and Swedish. Her documentary novel Pamiati pamiati (In Memory of Memory) came out in Russian in November 2017 and received the Russian Big Book Prize in December 2018. Since 2022 Stepanova is based in Berlin.

This event will take place in Reid Hall’s Grande Salle Ginsberg-LeClerc, built in 1912 and extensively renovated in 2023 thanks to the generous support of Judith Ginsberg and Paul LeClerc.

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