Zakhar Prilepin
Genres
Contemporary Fiction
Biography
Zakhar Prilepin was born near Ryazan in 1975. He led a varied life before dedicating himself to writing, spending time as a student, as a labourer, as a journalist and as a soldier, serving as an officer with the Special Forces in Chechnya. More recently Prilepin has come to the public attention not only as one of the best writers of his generation, but as a committed, and often controversial, political activist on behalf of the pro-democracy ‘Other Russia’ coalition. Prilepin lives in Nizhny Novgorod with his wife and children, where he is the regional editor of crusading independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta. His website is one of the most popular author's sites in Russia.
Prilepin's combination of lucid prose and social consciousness has made him one of the most popular and acclaimed writers in Russia today and drawn comparisons with the Russian classics. His novel Sankya, which draws on his own experiences to depict life among young political extremists, was shortlisted for the Russian Booker in 2007, when it also won the Yasnaya Polyana Award and the Best Foreign Novel of the Year Award in China. Other notable works include Pathologies, stories from the war in Chechnya, and Sin, in which the author's attention turns to his beloved Russian countryside. Both works, like many others of Prilepin's, have been translated into numerous foreign languages; regrettably, English-speaking readers have as yet had to content themselves with a handful of short stories.
‘Real Russian literature, which, perhaps for the first time in the 21st century, deals with modern Russia seriously, without being superficial, patronising, allegorical or ironic: Sankya is not to be missed.’ Nadezhda Gorlova, Literaturnaia gazeta
Prizes and awards
| 2008 | Rusophonia France (Translation of Pathologies / Патологии) |
| 2008 | National Bestseller (Sin / Грех) |
| 2007 | China's Best foreign novel of the year (Sankya / Санькя) |
| 2007 | Yasnaya Polyana Award (Sankya / Санькя) |
| 2007 | Russia's True Sons Award (Sin / Грех) |
| 2007 | Yuri Kazakov Prize (Sin / Грех) |
| 2006 | Russian Booker Prize (Sankya / Санькя) |
| 2006 | National Bestseller (Sankya / Санькя) |
| 2006 | Evrika-Prize (Sankya / Санькя) |
| 2005 | National Bestseller Prize (Pathologies / Патологии) |
| 2005 | Roman-Gazeta Award (Debut) |
| 2005 | Inspire Paris Award |
| 2005 | Literaturnaya Rossia Award (Pathologies / Патологии) |
| 2004 | Boris Sokolov Prize (Pathologies / Патологии) |
Books
- Leonid Leonov: He Played Big / Леонид Леонов: Игра его была огромна, 2010
- Terra Tartarara: It Strikes Me Personally / Terra Tartarara: Это касается лично меня, 2009
- Name Day of the Heart: Discussions with Russian Literature / Именины сердца: Разговоры с русской литературой, 2009
- Boots full of hot Vodka / Ботинки полные горячей водкой, 2008
- I Have Come from Russia / Я пришел из России, 2008
- Sin, 2007
- Sankya / Санькя, 2006
- Pathologies / Патологии, 2005