I am currently living and teaching in south Russia, and bringing up a child here.

My Fellowship was to do with the Iron Curtain countries of eastern Europe (It was the 20th anniversary of the fall of communism in 2009, the year of my Fellowship.) I subsequently set up and ran the Central and Eastern European London Review, a website covering CEE arts events in London, which lasted for several years. Along with reviewing and promoting numerous arts events, it also organised several, including days on Chernobyl and Hungary, at London's Frontline Club. There is no way I would have had the confidence to do any of this without the Fellowship, which made me feel I had enough of a practical knowledge of central and eastern Europe to attempt such things (I visited numerous countries, had countless conversations and did a wealth of reading and research, as a result of the Churchill grant).

I am still writing on matters east European, for sites like Quillette and the Critic. The grant is life-changing, although it may not be immediately apparent, and what you are hoping to achieve through the Fellowship can turn out to be something else. Some 12 years on, I feel my Fellowship is still beneficial.