Spring is upon us, which means it is time for the season’s last edition of Online Talks on Eurasian Media – the collaborative initiative between TaRC and the Russian Media Lab (University of Helsinki)!
On Tuesday 12 May, we will hear from PhD Pia Koivunen (University of Turku) who presents her planned project on the nature and forms of Soviet publishing abroad.
Influencing foreign audiences through print media and literature was an important aspect of Soviet soft power. Coloured magazines such as The USSR and Sputnik were distributed worldwide in order to shape perceptions not only of the country itself, but also of international relations, recent history, cultures, and worldviews.
In addition to print media, Soviet news agencies and publishing houses collaborated with foreign publishers and cultural organizations to bring Soviet fiction and non-fiction to foreign markets.
To what extent were books, magazines and leaflets intended for foreign audiences as part of cultural exchange, and were these cultural products meant to facilitate Soviet propaganda aims abroad?
The presentation will outline the network of agents and channels of distribution in different countries. Which companies and organizations collaborated with the Soviet publishing field and what happened to this system after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991?
Speaker bio:
PhD Pia Koivunen is a historian who specializes in Russia and Eastern Europe in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Koivunen works as a Senior Lecturer in European and World History at the University of Turku and has worked on international youth and student organizations, mega-events, state visits, the history of experience, and memory.
Her recent publications include a monograph Performing Peace and Friendship. The World Youth Festivals and Soviet Cultural Diplomacy (De Gruyter, 2023) and currently, she is writing a monograph on the use of the Tampere Lenin Museum in Soviet cultural diplomacy and the politics of memory beyond the Soviet borders.
This Online Talk will be held on Zoom on Tuesday 12 May 2026, at 12.00–13.30 Finnish time (GMT+3). Discussion will be moderated by Dr Olga Dovbysh (University of Helsinki).
Participation in the event requires registration. Please sign up using this link by Sunday 10 May 2026, 23.45 Finnish time.