• Institute for Social Research

12 August 2010Dr Maria Tumarkin from Swinburne’s Institute for Social Research has made The Age book of the year non-fiction shortlist for her story, Otherland: A Journey With My Daughter.

The memoir shares Tumarkin’s journey with her daughter Billie back to Maria’s homeland, Russia, after leaving the country when she was 15 years old. Otherland is the personal story of Tumarkin’s wish to bring together the continents, histories and experiences of her mother and daughter.

Otherland describes the fragile bond between Tumarkin and her daughter as well as the changes of her family's native country.

“I wanted Billie to see what the past – as a family, and the past of the country that we come from – smells like and what it tastes like. I wanted Billie to be really bitten by that realisation that history has teeth and it has claws and it can come and sit on your chest when you least expect it,” Turmarkin said.

Her aim was to portray a more realistic version of the former Soviet Union than media stereotypes.

“I realised that in order to talk about things I wanted to talk about and go places I needed to go, I needed the reader to come with us on our badly judged and frequently dysfunctional trip,” she said.

Tumarkin is currently a post-doctoral Fellow at Swinburne, working on an ARC-funded project on social memory and historical justice. She has previously written books on places of tragedy and the nature of courage.

Her nomination joins four other women authors on The Age’s shortlist.

The Age book of the year awards are worth $10,000 to the winner of each category, with a further $10,000 going to the winner of the overall book of the year title. They will be presented as part of the opening of the Melbourne Writers Festival at the Melbourne Town Hall on August 27.

Otherland can be purchased at all Readings stores.