Narrating and Co-Translating Foster Care and Adoption: Prestia's "Farewell to Russia" from Italian into English

Farewell to Russia: Memories of When I Was Kola is a prize-winning autofiction by Nikolai Prestia. Inspired by his personal trajectory as a child born into a 1990s Russia family struggling with poverty and addiction, this harrowing yet lyrical book describes his experiences in various orphanages and his eventual adoption by an Italian family. Translated into English as part of a collaboration between the author and an adoptive mother-daughter translator duo, Teresa Fiore and Daniela Chaudhary Fiore, the book offers a glimpse into the back stories that often precede the adoption of an older child. 

The writer, the co-translators and the book cover's author (also, the event's interpreter) will be part of a conversation about the Farewell to Russia and the related themes of trauma, loss, memory, resilience and the power of writing. On the occasion of National Adoption Day, join us at: 
Spence-Chapin 120 East 16th Street, Floor 11, New York City, NY 10003. More info 

Farewell to Russia Memories of When I Was Kola Dasvidania (2026, originally titled Dasvidania, Venice: Marsilio, 2021) is available in the OVOI series of Rutgers University Press (webpage). 

Resources
Listen to a WMSC radio interview (March 2026)
This translation is part of a broader research and teaching project by Dr. Fiore, called Adoption Cultural Studies.