Author Margarita Gokun Silver emigrated from the Soviet Union to the US as a teenager. In I Named My Dog Pushkin, she recounts the laugh-out-loud moments of creating a new life in America. But her memoir does not gloss over the realities of life before emigrating from the Soviet Union.

Speaking with The Jewish News, she said, ‘During Gorbachev’s policy of glasnost, people could write and say anything they wanted, which is great – freedom of speech – so the young people embraced it. But then the bigots embraced it too.’ This was something Margarita experienced during her time at school when she was taunted by her classmates for being Jewish. But her time in America pushed her to learn to embrace the parts of herself she always wanted to discard for good.

Read more in her interview with The Jewish News.

Author photo of Markarita Gokun Silver

I Named My Dog Pushkin (And Other Immigrant Tales)

Margarita Gokun Silver

Published: 29 July 2021

Buy a pair of Levi’s, lose the Russian accent, and turn yourself into an American. Really, how difficult could it be?

Margarita Gokun Silver