In 2004, the Russian prose writer and poet Yuz Aleshkovsky celebrated a double anniversary: the 75th anniversary of his birth and the 25th anniversary of his arrival in America. Wesleyan University in Connecticut, where the writer lives, organized Readings for this occasion - a series of lectures on the work of Yu. Aleshkovsky. The guests of the celebration were the writer’s friends - famous Russian writers who arrived from different countries of the world. Aleshkovsky celebrated his 80th birthday in Bulgaria, where a translation of his novel “The Penultimate Life” was published. In five years - from anniversary to anniversary - new works were born and published. We decided to catch up with life with the second expanded edition of the collection. Over a quarter of a century in America, Yuz wrote a lot of amazing books, which were discussed at the anniversary by Andrei Bitov, Boris Khazanov, Olga Shamborant and others. This collection is the completion of the anniversary. It is based on lectures given by participants in the Readings at Wesleyan University and articles written by researchers of his work for books, magazines and newspapers published on both sides of the ocean at different times. They highlight different aspects of Aleshkovsky’s work - the writer and the person.