Lyudmila Ulitskaya

69
Lyudmila Ulitskaya bigraphy, stories - Russian writer

Lyudmila Ulitskaya : biography

1943 –

Lyudmila Evgenyevna Ulitskaya () is a critically acclaimed modern Russian novelist and short-story writer. She was born in the town of Davlekanovo in Bashkiria on February 21, 1943. She grew up in Moscow where she took a degree in genetics from the Moscow State University.

Awards

  • Penne Prize (1997, Italy)
  • Medici Prize (1998, France)
  • Giuseppe Acerbi Award :it:Premio Letterario Giuseppe Acerbi (1998, Italy) for her novel Sonechka
  • Russian Booker Prize (2002, Russia) for the novel Kukotsky Case
  • Chevalier of the Ordre des Palmes Académiques (2003, France)
  • Novel of the Year Prize (2004, Russia) for the novel Sincerely yours, Shurik
  • Best Writer of the Year Ivanushka Prize (2004, Russia)
  • Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (2004, France)
  • National Literature Prize for Sincerely yours, Shurik (2005, China)
  • Penne Prize (2006, Italy) for the novel Kukotsky Case
  • National Olympia Prize of Russian Academy of Business (2007, Russia)
  • National Literary Prize BIG BOOK (2007, Russia) for the novel Daniel Stein, Translator
  • Father Alexander Men Award (2008, Germany-Russia)
  • 2009 Man Booker International Prize nominee (along with 14 authors from 12 different countries: Mario Vargas Llosa, E.L Doctorow and 2001 Nobel Prize in Literature winner V. S. Naipaul)
  • Simone de Beauvoir Prize (2011, France)
  • Pak Kyong-ni Prize (2012, South Korea)

Online text

Biography

Having worked in the field of genetics and biochemistry, Ulitskaya began her literary career by joining the Jewish drama theatre as a literary consultant. She was the author of two movie scripts produced in the early 1990s: The Liberty Sisters (Сестрички Либерти, 1990) and A Woman for All (Женщина для всех, 1991).

Ulitskaya’s first novella, Sonechka (Сонечка), published in Novy Mir in 1992, almost immediately became extremely popular, and was shortlisted for the Russian Booker Award. Today her writing is much admired by the general reading public and critics in Russia and many other countries.

A number of interlinked themes dominate her works: the need for religious and ethnic tolerance; the problem of the intelligentsia in Soviet culture; gender and family issues; everyday life as a literary subject; and new images of the body (the sexual body, handicapped body, etc.). In 2006 she published Daniel Stein, Translator (Даниэль Штайн, переводчик), a novel dealing with the Holocaust and the need for reconciliation between Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

Her works have been translated into several languages and received several international and Russian literary awards, including the Russian Booker for Kukotsky’s Case (Казус Кукоцкого) (2001). (Ulitskaya was the first woman to receive this distinguished prize.) She regularly publishes commentary on social issues and is actively involved in philanthropic projects increasing access to literature.

Ulitskaya’s works have been translated into many foreign languages. In Germany her novels have been added to bestseller lists thanks to the featuring of her works on a television program hosted by literary critic Elke Heidenreich. A number of her novels and short stories have been translated into English.

Lyudmila Ulitskaya currently resides in Moscow.