At the Prague Book Tower stand, Alexey Woinov will read excerpts from the German translation of his book Snowless Winter, translated by Barbara Sauser. The book has not yet been published in German.

Winter Without Snow is a story of war, exile and uprootedness, a meditation on Soviet memory and the preservation of dignity. On 24 February 2022, Alexey's life changes overnight. How can one continue living in Moscow when the population supports the war? Together with his husband, he leaves the country, spends months wandering through Central Europe and eventually settles in Germany. In simple yet subtle prose, Woinov weaves together memories and anecdotes filled with bitter humour, exploring both the personal and collective experience of emigration.

"I leaned against the wall to keep from collapsing. 'Special military operation': the hideous combination of these three words suddenly filled the room. Yet it was obvious that this was war. When bombs fall, it is war."

Woinov first read excerpts from the text in German in November 2023, during a musical performance with Christian Müller at the Performance-Literaturfestival BONE in Bern. Excerpts translated into French by Marion Graf appeared in the Swiss literary journal La Revue de Belles-Lettres in 2024 and 2025.

In August 2025, the book was published in Russian by Éditions Tourgueneff in Paris and presented at the Prague Book Tower Fair in Prague in September 2025. The French edition, L’hiver Sans Neige, translated by Guilhem Pousson, followed in November 2025, published by Les Éditions du Bout de la Ville.

Alexey Woinov is a writer and translator from French. He has published around fifty translation works, including those by Marguerite Duras, Hervé Guibert and Charles Ferdinand Ramuz, and is regarded as the "Russian voice of Duras and Guibert".

Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, he left Russia in protest in 2022. He now lives with his husband near Heidelberg and publishes his work in France, Switzerland and Israel.