Dark Shadows

Happy New Year! Happy New Year to Dark Shadows Readers! We would like to wish all readers of Dark Shadows a very happy 2020! Dark Shadows, published by Bloomsbury-owned I.B. Tauris, has had a great year. It began with author Joanna Lillis’s successful North American book tour in early 2019, following the launch of Dark Shadows in the UK in late 2018, and continued with some great reviews of Dark Shadows in the international press. Check out the Spectator review by Peter Frankopan, historian and best-selling author of The Silk Roads and The New Silk Roads, who describes Dark Shadows as “astute, refreshing and revelatory”, the rave review in the Times Literary Supplement (subscribers only), and the write-up in Literary Review, which found that author Joanna Lillis “refreshes our knowledge of important events in Kazakhstan’s history” and “provides a vivid, interview-led report of Kazakhstan’s stunted human rights record”. The first edition has sold out and we are now into our se...

It's been just over six months since Joanna Lillis's Dark Shadows: Inside the Secret World of Kazakhstan was published in the UK by I. B. Tauris, and in that time it has turned up in some surprising corners of the world. Dark Shadows spotted at Niagara Falls, Canadian side So far, it has made the short trip across the channel to make an appearance in the venerable Shakespeare and Co in Paris , crossed Hadrian's Wall to Scotland , winged its way by post to  Mongolia , sailed across the expanse of the Atlantic to turn up in  Niagara Falls in Canada and the  Bronx , and even popped up in  Mexico  and the exotic Caribbean island of  Curaçao. Dark Shadows on  Curaçao island Who knows where this esteemed tome will end up next? Avid bookworms should keep on posting their pics of Dark Shadows on Twitter and tag in @joannalillis, or send them to us here at darkshadows@gmail.com. For any readers who have yet to get their hands on a copy...

As Kazakhstan gears up to go to the polls for a  presidential election  following the  resignation  of long-serving strongman Nursultan Nazarbayev, the country is heading into its most interesting and turbulent election in well over a decade. A polling station in Almaty, complete with balloons to create a festive atmosphere. For anyone interested in taking a deep dive into Kazakh political life ahead of the vote on June 9 th ,  Dark Shadows  is a great place to start.  Published  in October by Bloomsbury-owned I.B. Tauris, the book has proven so popular that the first edition has sold out and it’s just gone into a  second print run . Author Joanna Lillis has been covering presidential elections in Kazakhstan since  2005 , through first-hand, on-the-ground reporting that allows the opinions of Kazakhstan’s people about their political leaders shine through.  She traces the trajectory of Nazarbayev first breaking the 90%...

Since its publication in October, Dark Shadows: Inside the Secret World of Kazakhstan has been snapped up by readers so eagerly that it is nearly sold out – so hurry up if you have yet to get your hands on a copy of the first edition! A second print run from Bloomsbury owned publishing house I.B. Tauris is in the works and will be out very soon. Here you can see a  sneak preview  of the cover of the second edition with an endorsement from a  Spectator review  by  Peter Frankopan , historian and best-selling author of  The Silk Roads  and  The New Silk Roads , who describes Dark Shadows as “astute, refreshing and revelatory”. Dark Shadows has also been given a rave review in the  Times Literary Supplement  recently (subscribers only), and a write-up in  Literary Review , which found that author Joanna Lillis “refreshes our knowledge of important events in Kazakhstan’s history, such as the evaporation of the Aral Sea and th...

Check out the latest reviews of  Dark Shadows  in the international media! The book has recently been reviewed by two renowned historians, Peter Frankopan and Alexander Morrison, both of Oxford University.  Dark Shadows meets The Silk Roads - Joanna Lillis meets Peter Frankopan in Oxford in November 2018 Writing in  The Spectator , Peter Frankopan described  Dark Shadows as “ astute, refreshing and revelatory”, and also “surprisingly tender, showing not only [Lillis’s] affection but her care in trying to make sense of a country that needs to be understood warts and all”.  “She introduces a cast of characters one could not make up, from an Old Believer living in the north of the country to a militant atheist, whose grim convictions are not entirely appealing,” he continues. “We meet those suffering from the effects of Soviet-era nuclear experiments and children infected with HIV in a blood scandal, whose dignity in the face of injustice and trag...

Joanna Lillis, the author of the best-selling  Dark Shadows: Inside the Secret World of Kazakhstan , has completed her successful tour of the USA following the book's North American publication on 30 January.  Dark Shadows arrives in the Big Apple! Here we publish links to videos of two events, so you can watch on catch-up if you missed them on the day. Joanna Lillis in conversation with Alex Cooley at the Harriman Institute at Columbia University, New York Here’s a  link   to video of a  Q and A   with Alex Cooley about  Dark Shadows  at the Harriman Institute at Columbia University in New York, where you can hear how the book came about and learn more about the diverse, from-the-ground reportage that it contains, if you missed the event on the day.  Kazakhstan’s Quest for Identity at the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard University And here’s a   link   to the author’s   presentation...

Joanna Lillis has been interviewed on  talkRADIO   about  Dark Shadows,  which the presenter of the station’s Late Late Early Early Show, Paul Ross described as a “jaw-droppingly good” book that is both “informative” and “heart-breaking”– so if you haven’t got your copy, buy it now!  Tell us all about Dark Shadows... You can tune in to the interview at this   link – make sure you access the 26 th February episode, click on the 0300-0330 slot and the interview with the author is 14 minutes in.

Joanna Lillis, the author of the best-selling Dark Shadows: Inside the Secret World of Kazakhstan , will be embarking of a tour of the USA following the book's North American publication on 30 January. Dark Shadows spotted at Niagara Falls, Canadian side. The tour begins in Tucson, Arizona on February 4, when Joanna Lillis will address students from the University of Arizona on Building a Career in Journalism Abroad at 12.00pm in the UA book store. The tour arrives in Washington DC on February 6. On that day, the author will be addressing the RAND Corporation  (this is a private event) . On February 7, Joanna Lillis will be  speaking at an event hosted by George Washington University's Central Asia Program, where she will present  Dark Shadows: Inside the Secret World of Kazakhstan . It will be held in the  Voesar Conference Room, Suite 412 and it starts at 4.00pm (this event is open to all).  On February 8, she will be speaking at a round table on...

Kazakhstan's troubled 20th century history was in the spotlight when Joanna Lillis, author of Dark Shadows: Inside the Secret World of Kazakhstan, was interviewed for Nick Shepley's excellent Explaining History  podcast. Click here to tune into the podcast.

Tune in to Talk Radio Europe on Monday, 10 December to hear Joanna Lillis, author of Dark Shadows: Inside the Secret World of Kazakhstan, interviewed on Let's Talk with Giles Brown. Joanna will be live on air at 10.30 GMT (16.30 Almaty Time) to talk about her book and life in Kazakhstan.

This December's copy of History Today features an article, Kazakhstan's Bloody December , by Joanna Lillis, author of Dark Shadows:Inside the Secret World of Kazakhstan, that looks back at 1986's Zheltoksan (December in Kazakh) demonstrations in what was then Alma-Ata (present-day Almaty) in the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic (now Kazakhstan). The article takes an in-depth look at the events that shook the Soviet Union three decades ago. The anniversary of the demonstrations is on 16 December, which symbolically became Kazakhstan's independence day from the Soviet Union, which it left in 1991. To read more about this topic, dig into your copy of Dark Shadows.

The Dark Shadows: Inside the Secret World of Kazakhstan roadshow moves on to the University of Oxford tomorrow, 28 November, with the author Joanna Lillis giving a talk about her book at New College in lecture room 4 from 17.00 to 18.30. The talk has been organised by  The Oxford Seminar for the Caucasus and Central Asia (TOSCCA) and Oxford Brookes University and  will bring together  Edmund Herzig (Soudavar Professor of Persian Studies, University of Oxford),  Dr.  Saïpira Fürstenberg  (Lecturer in Politics, Oxford Brookes University), Dr.  Alexander Morrison  (Fellow & Tutor in History, University of Oxford) and   Sofya Omarova  (Marie Curie fellow, Oxford Brookes University) to  discuss  Dark Shadows. If you're in Oxford, we hope to see you there!

Dark Shadows: Inside the Secret World of Kazakhstan by Joanna Lillis was launched with great fanfare in London on Thursday, 22 November. We'd like to say a big thank you to John Sandoe  for hosting the event in their wonderful book shop. The shop was packed with family, old friends and new friends from near and far - thank you all so much for taking the time to come and celebrate the launch. I hope you all had a good a time, as we did! Here are some images of the event taken by Aigerim Toleukhan,  a photographer and journalist from Kazakhstan.

Ahead of tonight's London launch of Dark Shadows: Inside the Secret World of Kazakhstan, author Joanna Lillis rode into town on her camel in order to sign some copies at the flagship Charing Cross road branch of Foyles. Joanna Lillis signing copies of Dark Shadows in Foyles, London. Don't forget, the launch is tonight, 22 November, at John Sandoe Books from 18.30-20.30. Come along and get your very own signed copy - hope to see you there!

Here's an extract from Joanna Lillis's interview in the independent Kazakh-language weekly newspaper Zhas Alash where she talks about some of the themes raised in her book Dark Shadows: Inside the Secret World of Kazakhstan (if your Kazakh is up to it, you can read the full text here !). Teachers in Krasnaya Polyana, a village in northern Kazakhstan populated almost entirely by Chechens, the descendants of Stalin-era deportees. The scope of the book is very wide. In a nutshell, it’s about Kazakhstan and its people. My goal in the book was for Kazakhstan’s people to explain their own experiences in their own words and share their thoughts. I wanted to let people speak for themselves… One part of the book is devoted to politics, media and human rights. Generally, I wrote about events that have happened in Kazakhstan since I have been living here, but events before and after independence are also discussed.Another topic raised in the book is Kazakhstan’s history and the...

Tune into TalkRADIO  this Sunday evening to hear  John Nicolson  interview Joanna Lillis, author of Dark Shadows: Inside the Secret World of Kazakhstan - it's live on air at 18.15 UK time.

Finally, it's here - Dark Shadows: Inside the Secret World of Kazakhstan by Joanna Lillis is now available for delivery - you might even be able to spot it in your local bookshop... We now know that the book really does exist - a keen reader has sent in this photo of a real, live physical copy of Dark Shadows, which she received in the post.

European Interest,  an independent online news and feature publication,  has conducted an in-depth interview with Joanna Lillis, drawing on some of the themes developed in her book Dark Shadows: inside the Secret World of Kazakhstan. Is Kazakhstan's 78-year-old President Nursultan Nazarbayev getting ready to hand over the mic to a successor? Below, we have a taster from this cracking interview, to read the whole piece,  click here .  Nazarbayev is 78 years old. Is there any indication that he is preparing his succession? What will happen in the country after he leaves power? This is a good question, and one on many people’s lips – although I have to add that the question has been on the agenda for all the time I have been living in Kazakhstan, which is 13 years. There are indications that Nazarbayev and his entourage are preparing for the succession, such as the limited political reforms designed to create a more collegial system of government enacted last ye...

Due to a double booking, tonight's scheduled  John Nicolson  interview with Joanna Lillis, author of Dark Shadows: Inside the Secret World of Kazakhstan, on TalkRADIO has been postponed until next Sunday 11 November  - the interview is scheduled to be live on air at 18.15 UK time.

Tune into TalkRADIO this evening to hear John Nicolson interview Joanna Lillis, author of Dark Shadows: Inside the Secret World of Kazakhstan - it's live on air at 18.30 UK time.