Alexander Pushkin reading to be held at Dreamers Garden on June 6
Press release from Maria Huff Edwards
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – An Alexander Pushkin reading will be held tomorrow, June 6, at 10 a.m., at Dreamers Garden (920 NW 4th Street), dedicated to Norman Nicolás Huff (1950-2026).
These annual readings are a collaboration between Russian-born Nataliya Lebedeva and Maria Huff Edwards, Founder of Dreamers Garden. The first reading took place on June 5, 2013. Nataliya had come to Dreamers Garden for the first time a few months earlier on April 21, 2013, for the Feria de Sevilla in honor of Spanish poet Federico Garcia Lorca. Nataliya danced seguidillas for this event and fell in love with the garden. Maria had long envisioned readings of Alexander Pushkin in Dreamers Garden to honor the beloved Russian poet, and Nataliya provided the perfect person – Nataliya loved poetry, and her favorite poet was Alexander Pushkin. Thus, 2026 marks the 13th time these readings have taken place in Dreamers Garden, thanks to the dedication of Nataliya Lebedeva and Maria Huff Edwards
Readers this year are Professor Seth Bernstein, who teaches Russian and Soviet and post-Soviet history at the University of Florida History Department; his wife, Tanya Glakhova, currently pursuing an MFA in design at the University of Florida; and Nataliya Lebedeva. Free and open to the public.
This reading is dedicated to the passing of Norman Nicolás Huff, spiritual co-founder of Dreamers Garden and adopted spiritual son of the Orthodox Church of Gainesville after his passing.