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
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
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
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
Elena Schwarz was born in 1948 in St. Petersburg, where she still lives today. She wrote her first poems at the age of thirteen. After finishing her studies at the Leningrad Institute for Drama, Music and Film in 1971, she worked as a translator, poet and essayist. She has issued
Irina Scherbakowa was born in Moscow in 1949. She is a historian, publicist and translator. Towards the end of the seventies she began her collection of audio tape interviews with victims of Stalinism, and has been doing research in the archives of the KGB since 1991. She is Professor of
Irina Prochorowa studied English Literature in Moscow. She was editor of the journal »Literaturnoe Obozrenie« and founded the independent academic journal »Novoe Literaturnoe Obozrenie«, of which she is chief editor, as well as the eponymous publishing house. Prokhorova regularly organises academic conventions. She was chairwoman of the Russian Booker Prize
born in 1987 in Nizhny Novgorod, is a Russian-German pianist. He completed his studies at the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien in Hanover. Since 2010, Levit has played concerts worldwide and has received numerous prizes, including the 2014 Echo Klassik. In April 2018, he returned the award in protest
