In May 2016, Rosetta became the first, and so far the only, New Zealander to take part in the St Petersburg Art Residency. While there, she visited Nevsky Pyatochok, the Neva Bridgehead, which is located 50km east of St Petersburg. This small area became the place of the most critical and costly campaigns during the Siege of Leningrad. Every square meter of the land was a grave for at least 12 Russian soldiers.
During her stay, Rosetta interviewed Konstantin Vasilyev, one of the volunteer scouts who use their vacation time to go into the fields that once formed the Siege of Leningrad, to find and hopefully, identify the remains of lost soldiers so they may have an honourable burial. Rosetta participated in the St Petersburg annual poetry conference, reading her poetry with the aid of a translator, and completed her time in residence with a show of poetry and found objects. Since visiting Russia, Rosetta has completed her novel The Unreliable People, which is situated in St Petersburg, Novosibirsk, and Vladivostok in Russia, as well as Semipalatinsk and Almaty in Kazakhstan. The novel is due to be released by Penguin Random House in May 2019.
St Petersburg Art Residency
ST PETERSBURG ART RESIDENCY, RUSSIA