Raf S. Schakirow was one of the co-founders of the first Russian economic newspaper, ‘Komersant’, where he held several leading positions until 1997, when its publisher was replaced. Shakirov was the founder of the award-winning weekly newspaper for private investors, ‘Dengi’, and directed the large newspaper publishing company ‘Gazeta’. In
was born in 1979 in Kartaly, Russia and studied Journalism in Yekaterinburg, Moscow and Krems. After an internship at Deutsche Welle (DW) she worked in Moscow as a journalist for DW and WDR and TV-Producer for ZDF and arte. Along with Peter Adler she made two sections of the three
Olga Schamborant was born in Moscow in 1945. Since completing her studies in Biology at the state university in Moscow in 1969, she has worked at the Institute for Bioorganic Chemistry (RAN). She began writing her first poems in early adolescence, an endeavour that her family did not praise, but
Nicolai Lilin was born in 1980 in Bender, Transnistria (USSR, now part of the Moldavian region). After having fought in the Chechen War during his military service for two years, he moved to Torino in Piedmont in 2003, where he currently lives as author, journalist and tattoo artist (traditional criminal
Natalja Kljutscharjowa was born in 1981 in Perm (Russia), studied at the College of Education in Jaroslawl and worked later as a TV news editor. Today she is an editor with »Pervoe sentjabrja«, a Moscow newspaper which covers issues related to education. She has been publishing poetry since 2002, and
was born 1948 in Leningrad. He studied philosophy and aesthetics in Moscow and earned his doctorate in the history of philosophy. Since 1995, he has written as a correspondent for »Lettre International«. In 2007, together with Gerd Koenen, he received the Leipziger Book Prize for European Understanding for »Mit dem
Mikhail Shishkin was born in Moscow in 1961. He studied at the faculty for Romance and German languages and literature of the National College for Education in Moscow, then worked for three years for the youth journal »Rovesnik« (tr: The Coeval), followed by five years as a German and English
Marina Litwinenko was born in Russia in 1962. A trained dancer, she met her future husband in 1993, the Russian ex-spy and critic of the Kremlin Alexander Litwinenko, who was murdered last November with the radioactive substance Polonium-210. In June, „Death of a Dissident“ was published by Marina Litwinenko and
Ludmila Petrushevskaya was born in Moscow in 1938. She comes from an intellectual family, which for several generations was subject to reprisals; this only stopped at the beginning of Perestroika. Petrushevskaya studied Journalism at Lomonossov University. From 1957 to 1973 she worked as a radio and television journalist. From 1974
Lyudmila Ulitskaya was born during her mother’s evacuation to the Urals in 1943. From the age of two she was brought up and educated in Moscow, where she studied Biology. For two years she worked as a geneticist at the USSR Academy institute in Moscow, but was dismissed in 1969
Lilia Schewzowa graduated from Moscow’s State Institute for International Relations where she is currently teaching as a professor. She works at the Carnegie Foundation for International Peace in Moscow as a Senior Associate. Shevtsova is the author and co-author of several books, among them the bestsellers ‘Yeltsin’s Russia: Myths and
Julia Kissina was born in 1966 in the Ukrainian capital Kiev, and studied scriptwriting at the film school in Moscow. In 1990 she moved to Germany, where she graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. She is a member of the Moscow Conceptualism movement and one of the
