Discussing the boons and pitfalls of writing historical fiction, about living in history, Russia in the news and other timely topics with author and journalist Jennifer Haupt for Psychology Today's "One True Thing"  column:

" I had no idea that people would become as obsessed with Russia as I am. You can’t predict the future, which is another theme of the book. You live inside history. You don’t know what’s going to happen. They didn’t know during the Russian revolution and we don’t know now."

Published November 22, 2017

Janet Fitch discusses The Revolution of Marina M. with Jeffrey Brown of the PBS NewsHour at the 2017 Miami Book Fair.

“To tell my story, I have to know how it felt to stand in lines at the district soviet trying to get papers one needed to work, and listening to rumors of what was said in those rooms. Hungry, ill-clothed, hopeful, stressed out. That’s the room I want to be in. Not how people shape history, but how history shapes us, how it distorts our stories, what it calls upon us to do. Who we become under its pressure.”

An essay for the LA Times' Jacket Copy, “Janet Fitch explains what it took to go back to Russia 100 years ago in 'The Revolution of Marina M.',” November 10, 2017.

“I had to go back to Russia, to the Revolution, to uncover what [Marina] had experienced in those turbulent years, and how they had marked her. ”

An essay for PowellsBooks.Blog, “Living in Interesting Times,” on a few of the obsessions that lead me to write Marina's story, November 9, 2017.

“‘I’ve known fiery people,’ Fitch says. ‘They’re glorious, they believe, they’re willing to stick their necks out, they’re willing to fall a long way, they make a mess—for themselves and others—but they live in a large way.’”

— Janet Fitch, Bookpage interview

Interview by Trisha Ping for BookPage, November 2017.

“All of my characters find themselves in drastically altered situations. …[W]e show ourselves when we’re put into stressful situations of sudden change. ”

— Janet Fitch on New Novel 'The Revolution of Marina M'

Interview with Cody Drabble of Capital Public Radio, Sacramento, November 7, 2017.

“Marina M. encourages us to reconcile with age-old questions, endure with dignity, and remember our history. Fitch says the novel is about a girl becoming a woman when she starts to see the consequences of her choices.”

— Joshua Balicki, The Daily Iowan

“Researcher and Writer Delves into the Russian Revolution”
Joshua Balicki, The Daily Iowan, November 7, 2017

Janet speaks with host Jill Adams about her new book, The Revolution of Marina M., in this all-female edition of People TV's Shelf Life. Segment starts at 1:18.

“Writers always regret taking something out. The Revolution of Marina M started out as a novel in verse. Eventually I put it all into prose because I have a bigger tool kit as a prose writer. For narrative I need to live through scenes in real time, but I do have a fondness for those verse chapters...”

An wide ranging conversation about the creation of The Revolution of Marina M. Includes some excellent questions from Goodreads readers.

A novel set in Russia in the early 20th century.

In an interview with the Los Angeles Review of Books, Janet discusses her new novel, THE REVOLUTION OF MARINA M., a saga of the Russian Revolution seen through the eyes of one young woman. April 8, 2012.

From the Los Angeles Review of Books One Minute Films series.