An Immigrant’s Love Letter to the West: Konstantin Kisin

The award-winning journalist, comedian and social commentator shares his extraordinary journey in a love letter to the West

For all the West’s failings, it has its advantages, as Konstanin Kisin well knows.  Growing up in the Soviet Union, he experienced the horrors of a socialist paradise gone wrong.  It wasn’t until he moved to the UK that he found himself thriving in an open and tolerant society.  Funny and provocative, An Immigrant’s Love Letter to the West interrogates the self-criticisms the West seems lately to have indulged in, and offers a new perspective.  Konstantin is co-presenter of the show TRIGGERnometry, which is dedicated to free speech and discussion of controversial topics.  He will be in conversation with festival director Thomas du Plessis.

“Britain-and the West in general-saved me from a terrible fate. Now, as people seek to destroy it, I want to save it in return.”

Konstantin Kisin, An Immigrant’s love letter to the west

Konstantin Kisin

Konstantin Kisin is a journalist, comedian, voiceover actor and social commentator. Born in the Soviet Union, where he experienced both untold wealth and grinding poverty, he moved to the UK when he was 13 years old. Now an award-winning performer, he co-presents the popular YouTube series TRIGGERnometry alongside Francis Foster. Together, they’ve interviewed some of the most in-demand intellectuals of our age, such as Douglas Murray, Jordan Peterson and many others. An Immigrant’s Love Letter to the West is his first book.

Thomas du Plessis

Thomas is Director of Queen’s Park Book Festival and founder of NW6 ARTS, which exists to celebrate and promote the the literary arts in the heart of London. He is a Consultant at Deloitte, serving public and private sector clients on a range of strategic, financial and operational topics.

Passionate about music, art and literature, Thomas studied the cello with Mats Lidstrom at the Royal Academy of Music and remains a keen amateur cellist. He read Archaeology & Anthropology at the University of Manchester, conducting archaeological fieldwork for The Stonehenge Hidden Landscape Project. In 2015 he was awarded Master of Studies with Distinction in Literature & Arts from the University of Oxford for his work on the Anglo-French painter Philippe Jacques de Loutherbourg. Thomas has a range of philanthropic interests in the arts and is Chairman of Southwell Music Festival. He lives in Queen’s Park with his partner, the pianist James Baillieu.