Tsvetaeva’s Bonfires

Her poetry, prose, letters (as a continuation of prose), romances based on Tsvetaeva's poems are performed at Tsvetaeva’s Bonfires, guests perform their own poems and songs. All the world's poetry and prose, as well as music, are heard; books are presented, news is voiced, acquaintances are made, connections are established for years to come. The first bonfire was lit in Tarusa by Alexander Khanakov, Nadezhda Zagainova and Nadezhda Shiyanova on the first Sunday of October 1986. On October 6, 1996, the baton of the Tsvetaevsky fires was taken over by Washington, then, since 2000, by the German Lörrach (Black Forest). In 2002 (the year of the Tsvetaeva’s 110^th birthday), bonfires were lit on different continents in 25 geographical locations. Today, we can confidently talk about 49 geographical points where fans of the poet's work light Tsvetaeva’s Bonfires.

The initiators of bonfires abroad, of course, are our nationals: Juliy Zyslin in Washington, Lilia Ziebart-Vogelzang in Lörrach, Zhanna Alifanova in Sydney, Margarita Tarsina in Vancouver, Tatiana Frolova in Uganda, Augusta Dokukina-Bobel  in Genoa, Elena Belyaninovain Dresden.

However, one cannot pass over the huge interest in Tsvetaeva’s Bonfires from foreign researchers and institutions. In Italian Genoa, for example, in October 2002, the Tsvetaeva’s Bonfire was managed by Augusta Dokukina-Bobel with the support of the Department of Slavic Studies of the University of Genoa; in Dresden, Elena Belyaninova’s idea to light the Tsvetaeva’s Bonfire on the first Sunday of October 2007 was supported by the German-Russian Institute of Culture. In 2019, The Memorial House-Museum of Marina Tsvetaeva in Bolshevo with great interest accepted the proposal to hold a teleconference with Dresden on the day the Tsvetaeva’s Bonfire was lit on German land. There was a live tour of the Bolshevo exposition, the parties exchanged greetings and news.

Year over year Boris Mansurovich Mansurov has been doing a great job of organizing the Tsvetaeva’s Bonfire in Tarusa. In collaboration with Alexander Vasilyevich Khanakov, he wrote the book "Tsvetaeva’s Bonfires of the World." We are grateful to Boris Mansurovich for his help in working on the site "Marina Tsvetaeva’s Homeland and Foreign land. Bolshevo" and welcome all Tsvetaeva’s Bonfires!