A book of an American photographer and writer Craig Riker was published in Kostroma; he was deported in March 2015 from Russia on charges of violating immigration laws.
Owner of the bookstore "Leonardo" Dmitry Abbakumov reported on his page on Facebook that the book of American author has already come on the market.
“I usually don’t advertise books, but this case is very unusual. Do you remember the story about an American Craig Riker, who lived in Kostroma for more than 20 years and wrote a book about Russia and who was deported for violating immigration laws? Well, his book "Strom" came from the printing-office. This is the result of 20 years of total immersion of Craig Riker in Russian culture. The book is here, but the author is there, deported to the United States,” Dmitry Abbakumov said.
In 20 years that Craig Riker lived in Kostroma he has become a real city attraction. Photographer independently mastered the Russian language, gave English lessons to local students, organized photo exhibitions, held free workshops on the art of photography for children and adolescents in Kostroma and districts.
In order to understand the nature of the mysterious Russian temper, the American bought a wooden hut near Kostroma and spent two winters there, managing to survive on $25 a month, and at the same time helping the locals with whom became sincere friends.
During his stay in Russia Craig collected materials and wrote crime drama called "Stroma", whose action unfolded in 1990 in the town very similar to Kostroma. This book is reminiscent of Gogol's comedy "Revizor".
Before deportation the author of "Stroma" negotiated with one of the Kostroma theater about the possibility of staging the play on his book on the Kostroma scene. At the present time, after spending a few weeks in degrading conditions of detention at the immigration removal centre, the writer returned to California, where he instantly became famous.
Photo: Dmitry Abbakumov, Facebook
He is invited to the meetings and lectures with stories about Russia. Craig told «7x7» in the near future he hopes to make a presentation of the book in Kostroma, speaking in front of the Russian audience on Skype from the United States. Most likely he will be no longer able to return to Russia.
