Yesterday’s presentation of Omnichannel Hearts at BooksEvents exceeded every expectation I’d quietly harbored. Fifteen engaged readers gathered at Library 16, and what began as a formal book presentation evolved into something far more meaningful – a genuine dialogue about identity, connection, and the spaces between cultures.
The questions were thoughtful, sometimes challenging, always illuminating. Someone asked about the paradox of writing about digital disconnection while building a career that bridges London and Moscow through those same digital channels. Another wondered whether my nail-art practice with London’s cultural elite influences the psychological depth I try to achieve in character work. These aren’t questions you get in every literary setting.
I found myself talking about things I hadn’t planned to discuss – how The Influencer’s Canvas will incorporate QR codes and visual elements to create a multimedia reading experience, how working with celebrity clients has taught me about the performance of authenticity versus its lived reality. The conversation flowed naturally between English and Russian, creating exactly the kind of cultural synthesis I try to capture in my fiction.
What struck me most was the moment when someone mentioned feeling caught between cultural worlds, never quite fitting perfectly in either. The nods around the room confirmed this isn’t just my experience – it’s a shared contemporary condition, and perhaps that’s exactly why we need literature that doesn’t try to resolve these tensions but learns to live creatively within them.
To everyone who attended, asked questions, shared their own stories, and reminded me why intimate literary gatherings matter – спасибо огромное. You made my first Russian presentation feel like coming home to a conversation I didn’t know I’d been missing.
The discussion will stay with me as I continue working on future projects. Sometimes the best validation for a book comes not from reviews but from the quality of conversation it generates.
Posted from Moscow, where yesterday’s warmth still lingers in the best possible way.
— Writer Julia Zolotova
