Interview with Olya

Olya was born in Moldova to Russian parents during the time of the Soviet Union. As a child, she briefly moved to Algeria on account of her father’s job, but she completed most of her studying in Moldova. Despite being born to Russian parents, and Russian being her native tongue, Olya only lived in Russia for a few years as a teenager. In 1991, as a young adult, she moved to America to study, and following the political, economic, and social instability of Russia following the collapse of the Soviet Union, she migrated to America. She has returned to Russia a few times since migrating, most notably in 2008 when working with a theatre company. In 2015 she and her husband migrated to England for professional reasons, and now she lives and works in Exeter. She is currently the director of Maketank, a performance venue, in the city centre.