About
Andrey Kurkov, born on April 23, 1961 in the Leningrad region, has lived in Kyiv since 1963. A graduate of the Kyiv Foreign Languages Institute in 1983, he worked as a translator, journalist, prison guard, cameraman, and screenwriter before dedicating himself to writing. His novel 'Death and the Penguin' (1996) brought him international fame. President of PEN Ukraine from 2018 to 2022, he is the author of over 23 novels, children's books, and screenplays. His works, translated into more than 37 languages, are banned in Russia due to his pro-Ukrainian stance.
* 1961-04-23
Major works
- Death and the Penguin (1996)novel
- Grey Bees (2018)novel
- Ukraine Diaries: Dispatches from Kiev (2014)non-fiction
- Diary of an Invasion (2022)non-fiction
- Jimi Hendrix Live in Lviv (2023)novel
Key milestones
- 1983Graduated from the Kyiv Foreign Languages Institute as a Japanese-English translator.
- 2014Appointed Knight of the French Legion of Honour.
- 2022Awarded the Prix Médicis étranger for 'Grey Bees'.
Themes
Ukrainian identityWar and conflictSurrealism and absurditySymbolic animalsEveryday life under pressure
Sources: thebookerprizes.com · pen.org.ua