Russia, With Love: Trista Newyear

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She became entranced with Russia just as then-President Ronald Reagan was labeling it an “evil empire.” Novelist and Russophile Tristra Newyear visited the vast nation as a teenager and later worked there as an editor for the Moscow Times. In the meantime, she did her PhD work on the Buryat people, ethnic Russians nestled between Siberia and Mongolia. Now, she has released an historical family drama set in Central Asia, entitled The Tomb and the Stone. Tristra discusses the dizzying variety of peoples who populate the largest country (by area) in the world and she talks about her dream of clearing up the many misconceptions Americans have about Russians.

Michael Glab goes one-on-one with Bloomington’s most fascinating people every Thursday at 5:30pm. Tune in for a bonus feature, Big Talk Extra, every Monday on the Daily Local News at 5:00pm for added chat from the previous week’s show.