Ogoniok

For the diacritic mark, see Ogonek.

Ogoniok

Frequency	Weekly
First issue	December 21, 1899
Company	Kommersant Publishing Group

The print shop of "Ogonyok" magazine designed by El Lissitzky

Ogoniok (Russian: Огонёк, lit. "little flame"; sometimes transliterated as Ogonyok) is one of the oldest weekly illustrated magazines in Russia, issued since December 21 [O.S. December 9] 1899. It was re-established in the Soviet Union in 1923 by Mikhail Koltsov.

The colour magazine reached the pinnacle of its popularity in the Perestroika years, when its editor-in-chief Vitaly Korotich "was guiding Ogoniok to a pro-American and pro-capitalist position".^[1] Those years are the subject matter of the book Small Fires: Letters From the Soviet People to Ogonyok Magazine 1987-1990 (Summit Books, NY, 1990) selected and edited by Christopher Cerf, Marina Albee, and with an introduction by Korotich.

In the early 1990s, Ogoniok was owned by Boris Berezovsky, and its popularity started to decline. Viktor Loshak, the former editor of Moskovskiye Novosti, took over as editor in 2003. As of 2004^[update], it was published by the Russian OVA-PRESS publishing house. At the height of the 2008–2009 Russian financial crisis, in January 2009, the publication was suspended due to an ownership change.^[2]

After a four-month break, publication of Ogoniok was resumed on May 18, 2009, by Kommersant Publishing Group. The first issue published by Kommersant is the 5079th Ogoniok since 1899.^[3]

See also

• List of literary magazines

References

1. ^ David M. Kotz, Fred Weir (1997). "Chapter 4: Glasnost and the intelligentsia". Revolution from Above: The Demise of the Soviet System. London: Routledge. p. 65. ISBN 0-415-14316-0
2. ^ Telen, Lyudmila (February 25, 2009). "Закроется ли "Огонек"? " (in Russian). Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Retrieved 2009-12-01.
3. ^ "Перерыв на обет" (in Russian). Ogoniok, no. 1 (5079), May 18, 2009. http://www.kommersant.ru/doc.aspx?DocsID=1171029. Retrieved 2009-05-19. 

External links

• Official website (Russian)
• Defunct official website (archival version)
• Archive 1945-1982