news, sites, and pages of interest about hermits and solitude
Independent filmmaker (US) Stephen Riehl of Maboroshi Productions has begun development on a documentary film titled The Stylite: A Matter of Faith, about a monk who is hoping to live atop Katskhi Pillar as a stylite in the Republic of Georgia’s Imereti region. A Hermitary blog entry refers to the monk.
URLs: http://www.thestylite.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/The-Stylite-a-matter-of-faith/109361395794331 
In National Geographic magazine’s February 2008 issue is a wonderful essay titled “On the Poet’s Trail” — on Japan’s pre-eminent 17th-century hermit-wanderer, Basho. Text by American novelist Howard Norman; includes a photo gallery, interactive travelog (map)ue, and notes by photographer Michael Yamashita.
URL: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/02/bashos-trail/howard-norman-text/1
“Hermit Wanted” by British writer Mick Jackson is a short story about an ornamental hermit in a contemporary setting. The Guardian offers a downloadable podcast reading by Prunella Scales (22:16). Summary from the website:
When Giles and Virginia buy a big old house in the country, they decide to run it in grand style, complete with deer park, follies and peacocks strutting on the croquet lawn. Mick Jackson tells how the discovery of a cave in the woods leaves them with a situation vacant
The website English Russia offers many fascinating photos of Agafya Lykov, who lived with her family in isolation in the Siberian taiga. The family went to Siberia in 1937 and was “discovered” in 1978, as described in the book Lost in the Taiga by Vassily Peskov, reviewed by Hermitary. The family of Old Believers fled persecution and remained deliberately isolated and quite self-sufficient. Agafya is now alone and aging, but has relatives nearby.
URL: http://englishrussia.com/index.php/2010/11/21/russian-hermits-of-the-21st-century/
This brief (1 and a half minute) BBC video report, “Monk’s Search for Solitude on Georgia Hilltop,” describes 55-year old Orthodox monk Fr. Maxime Kavtaradze’s efforts to rebuild and move into a stark hilltop skete to live alone as a hermit.
A monk in a remote part of Georgia has decided to seek extra solitude on a rocky outcrop which will soon be completely cut off from civilisation.