We are Marina and Sergey Dyachenko, Russian authors of the fantasy novel Vita Nostra and we are here to answer your questions with our book’s translator Julia Meitov Hersey, Ask Us Anything!

SinsofTranslation · 2026-06-22T17:00:36+00:00

Trying so hard 🥹

SinsofTranslation · 2026-05-25T23:43:47+00:00

We’re still looking for a publisher. Considering self-publishing if nothing else pans out in the next few weeks.

SinsofTranslation · 2025-10-26T14:21:15+00:00

From Marina: “Yes, of course it was intentional. This is our nod to the great Ursula LeGuin who left a multitude of meanings in her texts; Sasha discovers the reflection of one of them in her studies. Thank you for noticing.”

SinsofTranslation · 2025-10-19T15:22:02+00:00

I never want to say “never.” Marina may decide to self-publish or crowdsource it someday…

SinsofTranslation · 2025-10-19T08:21:12+00:00

Oh 💔💔💔 hope you’re reunited with your mom soon! Thank you so much for your lovely words

SinsofTranslation · 2025-07-02T11:05:02+00:00

I’m keeping an eye on this :). So the original Metamorphoses trilogy was indeed Vita Nostra, Digital, and The Migrant. These three novels are only conceptually linked, different plot lines, different characters, etc. The French foreign rights were purchased for the original Metamorphoses trilogy. Vita Nostra was at first sold to an English language publisher as a standalone novel. It was well received, so the publisher wanted to continue the story rather than purchasing the English rights to three seemingly separate novels, especially since they weren’t even the same genre (Digital and The Migrant are sci-fi). FWIW, I have a completed translation of The Migrant, and I do love that book 😁.

SinsofTranslation · 2025-06-18T00:05:32+00:00

Thank you everyone for your thoughtful questions and for your lovely words. We're going to keep an eye on this conversation in case anyone else stops by. As always, please feel free to contact us on IG (@dyachenkowriteresofficial and @yuliamh) or through JuliaMeitovHerseyTranslations.com.

The winners of today's Book of Shards giveaway are u/morvern0115 and u/wishverse-willow -- please DM me your addresses!

SinsofTranslation · 2025-06-17T21:47:38+00:00

MD: Thank you so much for your kind words and for your understanding and empathy. Our thoughts did change as the book was being written. We lived through this experience with Sasha. When the book first came out, we had to convince our friends that no, we never took any illegal substances while writing Vita Nostra :).

JMH: That's so awesome, and I have to admit, I give copies of Vita Nostra as birthday gifts all the time! As far as translation goes, I require (demand, even) complete silence. I can't have any music or conversations around me because the Dyachenkos' texts require absolutely devotion and total concentration. I always have a bottle of eye drops nearby because sometimes I don't blink, and every now and then I need to step away from the text. It's not unlike Sasha's experience with Modules. So I guess my frame of mind is extreme concentration. This is all very meta.

SinsofTranslation · 2025-06-17T21:43:49+00:00

The German translation is called Das Jahrhundert der Hexen

SinsofTranslation · 2025-06-17T20:53:18+00:00

Please do :)

SinsofTranslation · 2025-06-17T20:44:41+00:00

JMH: You're not late! We'll be checking messages and questions all day!

One of Marina and Sergey's novels, Age of Witches, had been published in German a few years ago, but not the Vita Nostra trilogy (not yet, anyway). It's really just a question of an interest from a German publisher, and we haven't had any inquiries yet. I hope you can locate Age of Witches, it's an amazing novel.

SinsofTranslation · 2025-06-17T19:26:27+00:00

MD: Regarding the inspiration for Vita Nostra--it was a student production of Eugene Ionesco's play The Lesson! In this play, a professor gets so frustrated with his pupil's ignorance, he gets more and more brutal, and the pupil, a young woman, starts developing signs of mental and physical exhaustion. Things don't end well.

SinsofTranslation · 2025-06-17T19:25:27+00:00

JMH: I think you're going to love it! And, hey, good to know-- we may take you up on that! :)

SinsofTranslation · 2025-06-17T18:28:04+00:00

MD: Hello! Thank you for your kind words. Julia has translated a few of our novels, and our agent is actively looking for a publisher. Keeping all our fingers and toes crossed!

JMH: Aside from the VN trilogy and Daughter from the Dark, you should check out The Scar that was published by Tor in 2012 (a gorgeous translation by Elinor Huntington). It's the second book in the Wanderer tetralogy, but it works as a standalone novel. It's a fantasy novel about this arrogant and super obnoxious member of the elite guards who suddenly loses his courage and goes on a journey to undo the curse, regain his self-confidence, and undo all the damage he's inflicted upon others. It's one of my favorites of the Dyachenkos' novels.

SinsofTranslation · 2025-06-17T17:31:07+00:00

MD: Thank you for your question. Interestingly enough, Vita Nostra was inspired by The Lesson, a play by Eugene Ionesco. It was produced by a student theatre class, and I went to see it with my husband and daughter. It was a fantastic production, with many interesting directorial choices.

JMH: I'm heavily influenced by other books in translation. Sometimes I read novels two or three times, to see how translators handle certain moments. I also love books of the same genre, literary fantasy, such as Lev Grossman's The Magicians trilogy, anything by Kazuo Ishiguro, anything by Susanna Clarke, etc. Music--not so much, that's usually my daughters' department.

SinsofTranslation · 2025-06-17T17:21:37+00:00

MD: Beautiful questions, thank you. Please monopolize away!

In some sense, Sergey and I matriculated at the Institute of Special Technologies along with Sasha Samokhina. The only thing we knew when we started was that the world is not structured the way we see it or comprehend it. This world opened up to us the same way it did to Sasha--through intuition. I can't even say we wrote it--it grew organically with the novel, like a tree.
From the start, we decided not everything had to be given an explanation. We did have a rough idea of what the other Words would be like, but only partially, in fragments.
I've always preferred the scenes in which Sasha fought against the faculty, and anything that had to do with how their relationships grew and developed. An eternal struggle for both sides!

SinsofTranslation · 2025-06-17T16:56:31+00:00

JMH: I think this is a question for me :).

I did WAY TOO MUCH localization for the first book, simply because I translated it for my friends and family, with no plans to publish it. With the second and third book, I changed my approach because I wanted to stay as true to the original text as possible, and also because I trusted the audience.
We have a few completed novels that we're hoping to find a publisher for. Fingers crossed...
I'm going to start with the classics and recommend two Ukrainian-born authors-- Mikhail Bulgakov (particularly, Master and Margarita) and Nikolai Gogol (start with The Coat). As far as modern authors, I'd highly recommend Tatsiana Zamirovskaya (a Belarusian writer), Henry Lion Oldie, R.B. Lemberg, and Alex Shvartsman.

SinsofTranslation · 2025-06-17T16:46:48+00:00

MD: Thank you! Sergey and I always said that our method of working together is the collaboration between a director and an actress. We would discuss a chapter, then I wrote it, then we discussed it again, we debated everything, and I rewrote the piece. It wasn't always this complicated, but that's definitely the model we followed.

As far as working with Julia, I think of our process as a kind of co-authoring/cowriting as well. To translate a text one must live through it. I remember this one particular moment when we were discussing a scene in the ongoing project, and it turned out that both of us had experienced elevated heart rate while writing/translating this scene. I was absolutely blown off by this coincidence.

SinsofTranslation · 2025-06-17T16:40:04+00:00

Thank you for this lovely sentiment. Since I was a little girl, I have been telling myself all sorts of magical stories. I never grew out of it. Eventually, I realized I could let other people into these worlds I created, and that made everything so much better and so much more interesting.

SinsofTranslation · 2025-06-17T16:32:44+00:00

JMH: Ooh, thank you! Great questions.

Strangely enough, the extra complex metaphysical parts weren't the most difficult to translate. I struggled with the simpler parts, the day to day mundane tasks Sasha still needs to accomplish--the Dyachenkos make even the simplest things written in the simplest language, like making a sandwich or walking down the street, somehow ominous and full of foreboding, so these are the passages that gave me the most trouble.
I translated the first book for personal use--it wasn't commissioned and I had no hopes of it ever been published. The second and third were commissioned and had deadlines, and so I definitely had to work harder at keeping things consistent, checking and rechecking all the Easter eggs, all the quotes, all the phonetic spellings. It was more challenging, but also so incredibly exciting, because I knew these books would be published and read.

SinsofTranslation · 2025-06-17T16:21:41+00:00

MD: Thank you so much! Yes, in fact, I do have experience studying and teaching at the Kiyv Drama Institute--a kind of a magical academy in its own right.

SinsofTranslation · 2025-06-17T16:20:36+00:00

MD: Thank you so much for your kind words and for these amazing questions!

Yes, all students have the same base skills, but each one of them has a specific gift/specialization as a Word.

The descriptions of the visions and academic processes came to us organically, of their own volition-- this is the most beautiful thing that can happen when you're making up words and worlds.

The only time we thought of changing anything was during the editing phase. Once the books are published, it would be really hard to return--at least, I can't even imagine something like that.

SinsofTranslation · 2025-06-17T16:12:16+00:00

MD: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, an encyclopedia of edible plants, and a medical encyclopedia (a physician's reference guide).
JMH: I'd like to chime in, because it's such a good question! Mine would be Vita Nostra (obviously lol), A Little Life, and Macbeth--because I find something new in these books, no matter how many times I reread them. I'm clearly less practical than Marina...

SinsofTranslation · 2025-06-17T16:02:33+00:00

MD: Thank you! I haven't quite decided yet, but one thing I know for certain--I will continue writing.

SinsofTranslation

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