"Can any other nation's literature rival that of Russsia when it comes to the density of its dog population?... Where else do we find so many instances of dogs invested with human-like powers of thought and feeling? Dogs which are not simply house pets, but friends, relatives and confidantes?" — From the Editor's Introduction
The debut issue of Chtenia takes "The Hearts of Dogs" as its theme and includes fine fiction by Chekhov, Dovlatov, Grishkovets, Galina, Koval, Sergiyenko and many others, plus poetry by the likes of Kharms, Mayakovsky and Yesenin, and wonderful contemporary black and white photography.