Is this a dagger which I see before me?
Such virtue hath my blog.
I’m a journalist and playwright, currently directing social media for Russia Beyond the Headlines. My husband is a theater director and filmmaker. We have a little boy who would probably like to pet your dog. Or break your cellphone. It varies.
Visit The Moscow News to take a look at some of my past work. I was deputy editor then acting editor-in-chief of the paper, before the agency that owned it, RIA Novosti, was liquidated and an entire era ended. Here are my parting words on the matter.
Visit Global Comment – an internationalist online magazine to take a look at more of my previous work – I used to be editor of GC.
Elsewhere, my writing has appeared in The Second Pass, The Guardian, Foreign Policy, Strange Horizons, TechPresident, Moskovskiye Novosti, Mic, The Moscow Times, Newsweek Europe, Balkanist Magazine, openDemocracy, and a bunch of other publications (some now sadly defunct – well hey, but that’s the way it is). The good people of Feministe have occasionally allowed me to deface their blog as well. I write plays in Russian and fiction in English. I cannot, for the love of me, write plays in English. Nor fiction in Russian. Except I sometimes break that rule.
I was born in Kiev, in a Ukrainian-Russian family, where people to this day argue about who should have Sevastopol. I have spent most of my life in the United States. In the South. It wasn’t like “True Blood,” but it was sort of like being in Rivendell, when Frodo had this “mortal wound” crap going on, and the Hobbits could finally chill. Then I lived in the Middle East – in Dubai and Amman – where I learned what Jerusalem is worth. Then, back in Ukraine again – where I had many adventures and became a playwright, because that’s what one does in the middle of a long Kievan winter. Now I flit between Russia and Ukraine a lot, because that’s what the cool kids are doing these days.
I once made a poem out of my favourite books list on Facebook:
Human Croquet, The Master and Margarita, Lolita, The Lord of the Rings, The Book of Lost Things, American Gods, Me Talk Pretty One Day, Their Eyes Were Watching God, The Secret History, The White Guard, The Hero and the Crown, Written On the Body, Fragile Things, Wicked, Harry Potter, As I Lay Dying, The Beach, The Life of Arsenyev, The Death of Ivan Ilych, Not the End of the World
This is a personal blog, and does not reflect the opinions of my family, friends, and employers, past, present, and future.
Some of my best friends happen to be mean, saber-toothed IP lawyers. Just putting that out there.
Banner image ⓒ Alexey Zhiryakov. 2014.
40 thoughts on “Is this a dagger which I see before me?”
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I just read this!
I am also the only jerk I know who’s able to mix Glenfiddich with diet Pepsi and not bat an eyelash nor shed a tear.
This cracked me up.
A ya Nikita Antonov iz Kieva. Privet! :)
LOL
Привет.
You are a fantastic writer, although I’m not sure how I feel about your tainting of single malt with aspertane-water.
*subscribe*
Thank you. :)
Natalia,
I am the chief editor of the Kyiv Post. I am writing to see if you are interested in allowing us to post your blogs on our website in the bloggers section – and link it back to your site. I see you write about many issues relevant to our readers.
Thanks, Brian Bonner
Hi Brian, good to “meet” you. I’m not entirely sure how relevant this blog is for the readers of the Kyiv Post, but I will trust your judgment. It’s cool if you use my blog posts, but please let me know if you intend to edit anything. Also, I would not like for any posts tagged as “stories” to be used, for various reasons. Thanks. :)
Dear Natalia,
I´m Paula Campos and I’m working for Chorus+Echo, a new web magazine and community powered by over 200 bloggers in 20 cities across the World, talking about a wide range of subjects… from Design to Arts.
Alongside the site we will also be holding physical events and think tanks in our launch cities, connecting creative, government and business leaders together to solve common problems with the help of other likeminded individuals globally.
The site will initially be only available in English. This means our search is made harder, as are trying to amazing global city blogs written in English and based in Moscow. I hoped you might be able to help us identify some of the best blogs in your city, we are especially looking for Design, Technology, Arts and Ideas.
Thank you very much.
Hello from London,
We just wanted to stop by and let you know that we love what you’re doing with your blog. We also wanted to offer a way for us to work together.
Who we are? We’re two London based editors with deceptively French sounding names. We travel, read and engage in creative projects across the board and know how difficult it can be to find inspiring content written by local people. So we’re doing something about it by starting Chorus+Echo – www.chorusandecho.com – C+E is way to give our readers informed access to ideas and cities across the World, while at the same time giving our family of contributors a far larger audience and an opportunity for them to make a little bit (but hopefully a lot!) more money from their content.
We have spent months pouring over thousands upon thousands of blogs and sites and have decided to launch in 20 cities with a handful of blogs in each. We would love to work with you here in London, in Moscow and beyond. We would use the content you post up on your blog, so there’s no extra work for you at all. At the same time you would be credited for any content, which means extra traffic for nataliaantonova.com.
With the launch of C+E imminent, we’ve put together the first in our series of launch events in TOKYO [woo hoo!] between March 15th-22nd. We’ll be meeting up with several of our contributors from Tokyo, meeting boutique and shop owners, interviewing several creative and business leaders from lecturers and architects to designers and musicians, being interviewed by local press and also holding a C+E event with London Calling at ELEVEN where I will be headlining.
If you have any questions don’t hesitate to get in touch with either of us. We can send you more info about the project.
Hope you’re interested in getting involved!
Jean-Robert and Luc Le Corre
Sounds like a cool project, but I would need to take a look at the fine print.
Hi. I was wondering, given your opinion of the Soviet Union on Feministe, what’s your view of the Romanovs and whether they deserved execution in Yekaterinburg?
Er. Well of course the Romanovs didn’t “deserve execution.” The hell?
I am very much offended by Natalia Antonova, whom I think to be a wilfully dishonest invididual. Your videos with Anna Arrowtunan, on promoting Russia, include serious misinformation. Most Russian women would consider a woman who goes back to the former USSR and marries a local to be some kind of nutcase. Russia is a corrupt land, where females struggle to survive, and yet that is something you never mention in your so-called “video rants.” Try to be more honest about Russia for a change – women who have escaped the situation will thank you for it.
Signed,
Married to a beautiful Russian woman
The above comment is beautiful. Simply beautiful.
Dear Natalia,
I was a big fan of yours while you were with Global Comment and was very distressed to find that you no longer wrote for them. That being said after doing so digging online was able to find you here and am so happy to be able to partake of your perspective on issues having to do with women, politics and the global community in general. As an American I think our news is sorely lacking as it relates to anything happening outside of the US unless completely catastrophic so it is nice to know that there are some venues where although they need to be sought out have a different take on things. I am a great admirer of your humor, grace and want to wish congrats on your marriage and baby. Keep up the good work…
All the best,
Anna
NY, NY
Thank you! :)
Hi. Just wondering if you’d seen this:
news.nationalpost.com/2012/08/28/vladimir-putins-presidential-job-perks-include-four-yachts-58-aircraft-and-20-homes-report/
Yeah, I glanced at that a few days ago when the report first came out. Nothing shocking.
i like how ‘offended’ commented. I have met very many Russian women who felt insecurity back home..
So? Does that give “offended” the right to call me a nutcase for marrying a Russian dude? I think “offended” can take a flying fuck on a rolling donut, pardon my Francais.
Hi Natalia,
I hope you don’t mind me popping in just to say that you are not only a very talented writer, but a beautiful one as well. Your husband is a lucky man, don’t let the h8rs get you down – their h8 is just validation that you are living the life of a true human! ;-)
I’ll let him know you said that. ;)
Hello Natalia! I love your confident posts and replies… something I hope to achieve someday in my everyday life You are such a talented writer! I am so happy you decided to do this blog!
I can’t for the life of me figure out why the words “your husband is a lucky man” offend me so, it;s so patronizing and well sleazy….erase all the comments and ban posting on this intro
What’s offensive about pointing out that Alexey is, indeed, lucky? Women who come to see his shows say similar things to me all the time with regard to my husband. (Well, some of them are downright batshit nuts, but those are in the minority)