Mikhail Veller

Genres

Contemporary Fiction

Biography

Mikhail Veller was born in 1948. He graduated with a degree in philology from Leningrad University in 1972. After university he worked in many different areas, including working as a logger in the taiga, a hunter, a shepherd, a teacher and a journalist. In recent years he has delivered lectures on modern Russian literature at the universities of Milan, Jerusalem and Copenhagen.

 

Mikhail Veller is the most published of non-commercial Russian writers. His stories and novels are published in literary magazines, such as Literaturnaya Gazeta, Znamya, Oktyabr, Druzhba Narodov and Ogonyok.

 

His first book of short stories Wanna Be a Street Sweeper attracted attention as soon as it was published in 1983, captivating readers and critics with its startling plots and resourceful writing style. Two of his books, an educational novel Major Zvyagin’s Adventures (1991) and Legends of Nevsky Prospect (1993), became bestsellers, with the latter described by the critics as the most amusing book of latest years. Another Veller’s bestseller, The Courier From Pisa (2000) has had 11 editions. 

 

He has also earned critical and public acclaim with his non-fiction publications. In his book Moscow-Apocalyspe, published in 2007 and republished in 2010, he foretold the terrible heat that the Russian capital faced in 2010.

Books