Interview with Stephen Ludger Lapeyrouse – English, #33, 1996.
Dear Readers, we of the First of September’s weekly supplement English, think that it is appropriate to make you more acquainted with the our author of American Reflections and colleague Stephen Ludger Lapeyrouse. He has been writing and working with us for a year now, and we wanted to present him to you in this interview. (This interview was done with Vera G.)
Stephen, please say a few words on your background and origin.
Well, I must say to begin with, Vera, that I have a rather complicated, unusual life story, which is rather long to explain, and has various layers and themes. And it is not a typical American biography – at least not most of it, and certainly not that which is engaging, interesting and painful. So that, in this short interview, I can only give a very simple sketch of it, some general sense of the story... Read more…
UP CLOSE: “Russia Is Worth Wait for U.S. Philosopher” by Claire Hunt – The Moscow Times #1461, May 27, 1998.
Among the photographs of writers and thinkers covering the walls of Stephen Lapeyrouse’s study hangs an ambiguous handwritten sign: “Life is a loan.”
Gazing out the window with knitted brow and gesturing animatedly, Lapeyrouse explains. “It was something that came to me in a dream,” he says. “Loan is a medieval word for gift, but it’s a gift that you have to give back, as is life.” Read more…
“Penny University Moscow Style” by Antonina Frolenkova – The Moscow News #03 (Jan27-Feb2), 2006.
English Language Evening host tells about his modest independent public lecture forum and shares his opinions about Moscow.
English Language Evenings (ELE) is an independent, open, public lecture forum in Moscow. For seven years, ELE has hosted 90 speakers from 12 countries: ambassadors and attaches, visiting professors, international journalists and heads of institutions. The founder of the ELE, Moscow based author, essayist and editor, Stephen Lapeyrouse, talks to our correspondent.
How did you come up with the idea to start English Language Evenings?
There were two main reasons: one, I had for years in California (Santa Cruz) participated in a weekly discussion group which over time discussed everything you can think of. It is called “Penny University”, taking its name from an old British tradition dating back to the 1600s where similar meetings were held in pubs where all could discuss the topics of the day... Read more…
“Residence Permits; How to Get a Residence Permit II; Third Round to Stephen Lapeyrouse” (3 articles by John Harrison and Stephen Lapeyrouse) – Passport Moscow, April, July 2009, February 2010.
Intrepid American citizen Stephen Lapeyrouse, who as it happens is not married to a Russian and therefore had to apply under the quota system as described in the April article, went through the process described in that article and lived to tell the tale… Read more…
“Import of Goodwill: An Engine of Ideas on Pushkin Square” by Nathan Gray – The Moscow News, 27 November, 2013.
This year, as part of Moskovskiye Novosti’s New Intelligentsia Awards, The Moscow News is giving out a special prize honoring expats who perform community service/work for public benefit in Russia. Our prize is called Import of Goodwill, and Stephen Lapeyrouse is one of the 2013 nominees. Read more…