**A Summer 2024 pick in the Times Literary Supplement and the Financial Times**"e;Andrey Kurkov is often called Ukraine's greatest living writer, and it is a gift for crime fiction fans that he writes in this genre"e; New York Times"e;A very intriguing and atmospheric novel by a highly accomplished writer . . . A fascinating read in the light of contemporary events"e; Alexander McCall Smith, Bestselling Author of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective AgencyKyiv, 1919. The Soviets control the city, but White armies menace them from the West. No man trusts his neighbour and any spark of resistance may ignite into open rebellion.When Samson Kolechko's father is murdered, his last act is to save his son from a falling Cossack sabre. Deprived of his right ear instead of his head, Samson is left an orphan, with only his father's collection of abacuses for company.Until, that is, his flat is requisitioned by two Red Army soldiers, whose secret plans Samson is somehow able to overhear with uncanny clarity. Eager to thwart them, he stumbles into a world of murder and intrigue that will either be the making of him - or finish what the Cossack started.Inflected with Kurkov's signature humour and magical realism, The Silver Bone takes inspiration from the real life archives of crime enforcement agencies in Kyiv, crafting a propulsive narrative that bursts to life with rich historical detail.Translated from the Russian by Boris Dralyuk
'Uplifting and utterly defiant' Matt Nixson, Daily Express 'Immediate and important ... This is an insider's account of how an ordinary life became extraordinary' Helen Davies, The TimesThis journal of the invasion, a collection of Andrey Kurkov's writings and broadcasts from Kyiv, is a remarkable record of a brilliant writer at the forefront of a 21st-century war. Andrey Kurkov has been a consistent satirical commentator on his adopted country of Ukraine. His most recent work, Grey Bees, is a dark foreshadowing of the devastation in the eastern part of Ukraine in which only two villagers remain in a village bombed to smithereens. The author has lived in Kyiv and in the remote countryside of Ukraine throughout the Russian invasion. He has also been able to fly to European capitals where he has been working to raise money for charities and to address crowded halls. Kurkov has been asked to write for every English newspaper, as also to be interviewed all over Europe. He has become an important voice for his people.Kurkov sees every video and every posted message, and he spends the sleepless nights of continuous bombardment of his city delivering the truth about this invasion to the world.
"e;Both a pleasure and a testament to life in Ukraine, before"e; Sunday Times"e;Ukraine's greatest living novelist"e; New European"e;A Ukrainian Murakami"e; GuardianA love letter to the beautiful city of Lviv, by the author of Death and the Penguin and Grey Bees.Strange things are afoot in the cosmopolitan city of Lviv, western Ukraine. Seagulls are circling and the air smells salty, though Lviv is a long way from the sea . . . A ragtag group gathers round a mysterious grave in Lychakiv Cemetery - among them an ex-KGB officer and an ageing hippy he used to spy on. Before long, Captain Ryabtsev and Alik Olisevych are teaming up to discover the source of the "e;anomalies"e;.Meanwhile, Taras - who makes a living driving kidney-stone patients over cobblestones in his ancient Opel Vectra - is courting Darka, who works nights at a bureau de change despite being allergic to money.The young lovers don't know it, but their fate depends on two lonely old men, relics of another era, who will stop at nothing to save their city. Shot through with Kurkov's unique brand of black humour and vodka-fuelled magic realism, Jimi Hendrix Live in Lviv is an affectionate portrait one the world's most intriguing cities.Translated from the Russian by Reuben Woolley
A cabinet of curiosities, a time machine, a treasure trove - we love bookshops because they possess a unique kind of magic. In Browse Henry Hitchings asks fifteen writers from around the world to reveal their favourite bookshops, each conjuring a specific time and place.Ali Smith chronicles the secrets and personal stories hidden within the pages of secondhand books; Alaa Al Aswany tells of the Cairo bookshop where revolutionaries gathered during the 2011 uprisings; Elif Shafak evokes the bookstores of Istanbul, their chaos and diversity, their aroma of tobacco and coffee. Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor recalls the quandary of choosing just one book at a favourite childhood store in Nairobi, while Iain Sinclair shares his grief on witnessing a beloved old haunt close down. Others explore bookshops they have stumbled upon, adored and become addicted to, from Delhi to Bogota.These inquisitive, enchanting pieces are a collective celebration of bookshops - for anyone who has ever fallen under their spell.Contributors include:Alaa Al Aswany (Egypt)Stefano Benni (Italy)Michael Dirda (USA)Daniel Kehlmann (Germany)Andrey Kurkov (Ukraine)Yiyun Li (China)Pankaj Mishra (India)Dorthe Nors (Denmark)Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor (Kenya)Elif Shafak (Turkey)Ian Sansom (UK)Iain Sinclair (UK)Ali Smith (UK)Sasa Stanisic (Germany/Bosnia)Juan Gabriel Vasquez (Colombia)
Writers in Translation, established in 2005 and supported by Bloomberg and Arts Council England, champions the best literature from around the world. To mark the programme's tenth anniversary, ten leading writers from around the world, many of whom have been supported in their work by English PEN, explore the themes of movement, freedom and narrative. Introduced by Amit Chaudhuri, the collection includes contributions from:Asmaa al GhulMahmoud DowlatabadiAyelet Gundar-GoshenChan KoonchungHanna KrallAndrey KurkovAndres NeumanAlain MabanckouElif ShafakSamar Yazbek
Acclaimed author Andrey Kurkov gives powerful insight into life in Kyiv following the 2013 protests and before the 2022 Russian invasion.-16 C, sunlight, silence. I drove the children to school, then went to see the revolution. I walked between the tents. Talked with rev olutionaries. They were weary today. The air was thick with the smell of old campfires. Ukraine Diaries is acclaimed writer Andrey Kurkov's first-hand account of the ongoing crisis in his country. From his flat in Kyiv, just five hundred yards from Independence Square, Kurkov can smell the burning barricades and hear the sounds of grenades and gunshot. Kurkov's diaries begin on the first day of the pro-European protests in November 2013, and describe the violent clashes in the Maidan, the impeachment of Yanukovych, Russia's annexation of Crimea and the separatist uprisings in the east of Ukraine. Going beyond the headlines, they give vivid insight into what it's like to live through - and try to make sense of - times of intense political unrest, on the path to the current crisis.
'Kurkov is hugely talented. Truly very funny' Time OutMarital troubles? Sick of life? Suicide the answer? Why not get yourself a contract killer? Nothing easier, provided you communicate only by phone and box number. You give him your photograph, specify when and where to find you, then sit back and prepare to die. Murdered, you will be of greater interest than ever you were in life. More to him than met the eye will be the judgement. A mysterious killing lives long in the popular memory. Our hero meticulously plans his own demise, except for one detail: what if he suddenly decides he wants to live?
'Rich, authentic and entertaining' New StatesmanDiscover the darkly funny follow-up to cult classic Death and the PenguinViktor - last seen in Death and the Penguin fleeing Mafia vengeance on an Antarctica-bound flight booked for Penguin Misha - seizes a heaven-sent opportunity to return to Kiev with a new identity. Clear now as to the enormity of abandoning Misha, then convalescent from a heart-transplant, Viktor determines to make amends. Viktor falls in with a Mafia boss who engages him to help in his election campaign, then introduces him to men who might further his search for Misha, said to be in a private zoo in Chechnya. What ensues is for Viktor both a quest and an odyssey of atonement, and, for the reader, an experience as rich, topical and illuminating as Death and the Penguin.
'A bittersweet work, tough and touching at the same time. Kurkov's style is spare and effective, drawing us with deceptive ease into a dense, complex world full of wonderful characters' Michael PalinA sharp, engaging satire that delves into Ukraine's history.Moscow, 2013. Bunin, the Ukrainian President, has joined other heads of state in an open air swimming pool to drink vodka and celebrate with Putin. During his rise to power Bunin has juggled with formidable and eccentric political and personal challenges. His troubles with his family and his women combine with his difficulties with corrupt businessmen and demanding international allies, but it is his recent heart transplant that worries him most. Since the operation he has started to develop freckles, and his heart donor's mysterious widow seems to have moved in with him... Spanning forty years, The President's Last Love is a hilarious satire on love, lies and life before and after the Iron Curtain.
A BBC Two Between the Covers Pick'A tragicomic masterpiece' Daily TelegraphAll that stands between one man and murder by the mafia is a penguin.Viktor is an aspiring writer in Ukraine with only Misha, his pet penguin, for company.Although Viktor would prefer to write short stories, he earns a living composing obituaries for a newspaper. He longs to see his work published, yet the subjects of his obituaries continue to cling to life.But when Viktor opens the newspaper to see his work in print for the first time, his pride swiftly turns to terror. Viktor and Misha have been drawn into a trap from which there appears to be no escape.'A striking portrait of post-Soviet isolation... In this bleak moral landscape Kurkov manages to find ample refuge for his dark humour' New York Times
WITH A NEW INTRODUCTION BY ANDREY KURKOVA rich, successful Moscow professor befriends a stray dog and attempts a scientific first by transplanting into it the testicles and pituitary gland of a recently deceased man. A distinctly worryingly human animal is now on the loose, and the professor's hitherto respectable life becomes a nightmare beyond endurance. An absurd and superbly comic story, this classic novel can also be read as a fierce parable of the Russian Revolution.
'Packs a lot of plot into this deadpan satire... Strange and tantalising' MetroDiscover this powerful dark satire from one of Ukraine's most acclaimed authors.When Kolya moves into a new flat in Kyiv, he discovers an annotated manuscript hidden inside a copy of War and Peace and decides to track down its author, even if it means digging up the grave of a Ukranian nationalist who died in mysterious circumstances. An exhumation reveals that an item of great national importance is buried near a fort in Kazakstan so when, during his night shift as a security guard, Kolya is threatened with mysterious phone calls, he sets off on what turns out to be a very bizarre journey. Along the way he meets a host of unlikely characters including Bedouins, ex-KGB officers and a spirit-like companion in the form of a chameleon.
Ten years on from the annexation of Crimea, two years on from Russia' s all-out invasion of Ukraine, the Ukrainian people continue to fight back. In the second volume of his war diaries, Andrey Kurkov gives a fresh perspective on a people for whom resistance and solidarity have become a matter of survival.Our Daily War is a chronological record of the heterogeneous mix that comprises Ukrainian life and thought in the teeth of Russian aggression, from the constant stress of air raids, the deportation of citizens from the occupied regions and the whispers of governmental corruption to Christmas celebrations, crowdfunding and the recipe for a "e; trench candle"e; .Kurkov' s human' s-eye view on the war in Ukraine is by turns bitingly satirical, tragic, humorous and heartfelt. It is also, in the manner of Pepys, an invaluable insight into the history, politics and culture of Ukraine. Our Daily War is the ideal primer for anyone who would like to know what life is like in that country today.
Samson Kolechko has been assigned a most perplexing case - though it is mostly perplexing because it's hard to understand why selling the meat of one's own pig constitutes a crime. But apparently it does, and at the insistence of the Chekist secret police officer assigned to "e;reinforce"e; the Lybid police station, Samson does his diligent - if diffident - best.Yet no sooner has he got started than his live-in fianc e Nadezhda is abducted by striking railway workers who object to the census she's carrying out. And when you factor in a mysterious thief in the police station itself, a deadly tram accident that may have been pre-meditated, and the potential reappearance of the culprit in the case of the silver bone, it's no wonder the "e;meat case"e; takes a back seat.But it is in the pursuit of that petty-fogging, seemingly mundane matter that Samson's fate lies - and Nadezhda's too, for the two are inextricably entwined.Translated from the Russian by Boris DralyukReviews for The Silver Bone - Longlisted for the International Booker Prize"e;Andrey Kurkov is often called Ukraine's greatest living writer, and it is a gift for crime fiction fans that he writes in this genre"e; New York Times"e;Wildly enjoyable . . . A glorious aural portrait of a city in dangerous flux . . . I finished The Silver Bone wishing to read more"e; Guardian
A penguin is all that stands between one man and murder by the mafiaSit back and enjoy this darkly comic full-cast adaptation of Andrey Kurkov's bestselling novel set in mid-90s Ukraine, plus a bonus interview with the author.Viktor Alekseyevich Zolotaryov is an aspiring writer in Ukraine, with only his pet king penguin, Misha, for company. After Viktor gets a job writing obituaries for a local newspaper, he soon finds that his articles are being used as a hit list by some unknown organisation. Feeling as lost and unhappy as his penguin, Viktor's life takes a complicated turn when he takes in Sonya, the young daughter of an old friend, and hires Nina to be her nanny. Can Viktor protect everyone and keep himself (and his penguin) alive, or is he destined to become the subject of the paper's latest obituary?A blend of Gogol's absurdist humour and Kafka's alienation, this tragi-comedy is set in the wild west atmosphere of a newly independent Ukraine following the collapse of the Soviet Union. At its heart, this is a story about surviving and enduring in perilous times.Starring Tom Basden (After Life) as aspiring writer Viktor, and BAFTA winner Jason Watkins (The Crown) as the mysterious Lyosha.This release also includes an episode of BBC Radio's World Book Club, in which Kurkov discusses his darkly funny tale with Harriett Gilbert. Recorded live in his native Ukraine, at the historic Mikhail Bulgakov Museum in Kiev, he responds to listeners' questions from around the world.Andrey Kurkov is a Ukrainian author who writes in Russian. He has written 19 novels and is a respected commentator on Ukraine, regularly appearing on Radio 4 with his 'Letters from Ukraine' series. Death and the Penguin is Kurkov's most famous work, translated into more than 30 languages.(c)2024 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2024 BBC Studios Distribution LtdDeath and the Penguin Written by Andrey KurkovTranslated by George BirdAdapted by Hattie NaylorDirected by Gemma JenkinsViktor - Tom BasdenLyosha - Jason WatkinsIgor - David HounslowSonya - Blythe ArberyNina - Chloe SommerMisha-non-Penguin - Roger RingroseSergey - Tom KiteleyNatasha - Fiona SkinnerDr Pidpaly - Joanna MonroFirst Broadcast BBC Radio 4, 14 January 2023World Book Club: Andrey Kurkov - Death and the Penguin Presented by Harriett GilbertFirst Broadcast BBC World Service, 5 September 2015
One of the most important Ukrainian voices throughout the Russian invasion, the author ofDeath and the PenguinandGrey Beescollects his searing dispatches from the heart of Kyiv.This journal of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, a collection of Andrey Kurkov's writings and broadcasts from Kyiv, is a remarkable record of a brilliant writer at the forefront of a twenty-first-century war. Andrey Kurkov has been a consistent satirical commentator on his adopted country of Ukraine. His most recent work,Grey Bees,in which only two villagers remain in a village bombed to smithereens,is a dark foreshadowing of the devastation in the eastern part of Ukraine.The author has lived in Kyiv and in the remote countryside of Ukraine throughout the Russian invasion. He has also been able to fly to European capitals, where he has worked to raise money for charities and addressed crowded halls. Fielding requests to write for every English newspaper and to be interviewed all over Europe, he has become an important voice for his people.Kurkov sees every video and every posted message, and he spends the sleepless nights of continuous bombardment of his city delivering the truth about this invasion to the world.
Catch-22 meets The Brothers Karamazov in the last great satire of the Soviet EraThe Great Patriotic War is stumbling to a close, but a new darkness has fallen over Soviet Russia. And for a disparate, disconnected clutch of wanderers - many thousands of miles apart but linked by a common goal - four parallel journeys are just beginning.Gorych and his driver, rolling through water, sand and snow on an empty petrol tank; the occupant of a black airship, looking down benevolently as he floats above his Fatherland; young Andrey, who leaves his religious community in search of a new life; and Kharitonov, who trudges from the Sea of Japan to Leningrad, carrying a fuse that, when lit, could blow all and sundry to smithereens.Written in the final years of Communism, The Bickford Fuse is a satirical epic of the Soviet soul, exploring the origins and dead-ends of the Russian mentality from the end of World War Two to the Union's collapse. Blending allegory and fable with real events, and as deliriously absurd as anything Kurkov has written, it is both an elegy for lost years and a song of hope for a future not yet set in stone.Translated from the Russian by Boris Dralyuk
WITH A FOREWORD BY PHILIPPE SANDS AND AN INTRODUCTION BY ANDREY KURKOV'If you read only one book about the war, this is the one to read.' -Henry Marsh, author of Do No Harm'Unforgettable. An immediate history of a cruel war and a personal chronicle of unbearable loss' -Simon Sebag-Montefiore, author of The WorldKilled by shrapnel as he served in the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Olesya Khromeychuk's brother Volodymyr died on the frontline in eastern Ukraine. As Khromeychuk tries to come to terms with losing her brother, she also tries to process the Russian invasion of Ukraine: as a historian of war, as a woman and as a sister.In a thoughtful blend of memoir and essay, Olesya Khromeychuk tells the story of her brother - and of Ukraine. Beautifully written and giving unique, poignant insight into the lives of those affected, it is an urgent act of resistance against the dehumanising cruelty of war.'If you want to understand Ukraine's determination to resist, Olesya Khromeychuk's book is essential.' -Paul Mason, author of How to Stop Fascism[A] tender and courageous book... Khromeychuk's clear-sighted prose expresses the pain that thousands, even millions, have felt in every conflict, past and present. -The Literary Review Magazine'A touching and brilliantly written account about grief, and also about strength. I read it in one night.' -Olia Hercules
2022 NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD WINNER FOR TRANSLATED FICTIONWith a warm yet political humor, Ukraine's most famous novelist presents a balanced and illuminating portrait of modern conflict.Little Starhorodivka, a village of three streets, lies in Ukraine's Grey Zone, the no-man's-land between loyalist and separatist forces. Thanks to the lukewarm war of sporadic violence and constant propaganda that has been dragging on for years, only two residents remain: retired safety inspector turned beekeeper Sergey Sergeyich and Pashka, a rival from his schooldays. With little food and no electricity, under constant threat of bombardment, Sergeyich's one remaining pleasure is his bees. As spring approaches, he knows he must take them far from the Grey Zone so they can collect their pollen in peace. This simple mission on their behalf introduces him to combatants and civilians on both sides of the battle lines: loyalists, separatists, Russian occupiers and Crimean Tatars. Wherever he goes, Sergeyich's childlike simplicity and strong moral compass disarm everyone he meets. But could these qualities be manipulated to serve an unworthy cause, spelling disaster for him, his bees and his country?
A masterful tale set in post-Soviet Kiev that''s both darkly-funny and ominous...
In the widely hailed prequel to Penguin Lost, aspiring writer Viktor Zolotaryov leads a down-and-out life in poverty-and-violence-wracked Kiev—he’s out of work and his only friend is a penguin, Misha, that he rescued when the local zoo started getting rid of animals. Even more nerve-wracking: a local mobster has taken a shine to Misha and wants to keep borrowing him for events.
But Viktor thinks he’s finally caught a break when he lands a well-paying job at the Kiev newspaper writing “living obituaries” of local dignitaries—articles to be filed for use when the time comes.
The only thing is, it seems the time always comes as soon as Viktor writes the article. Slowly understanding that his own life may be in jeopardy, Viktor also realizes that the only thing that might be keeping him alive is his penguin.
Penguin Lost finds Viktor Zolotaryov sneaking back into Kiev under an assumed identity to undertake a dangerous mission: He wants to find Misha, his penguin, whom he fears has fallen into the hands of the criminal mob looking for Viktor himself.
Guilt-ridden and determined to do what it takes, Viktor falls in with a Mafia boss who employs him in an election-rigging campaign, in return for introducing Viktor to other mobsters who can help him find Misha. And as Viktor goes from mobster to mobster, trying to survive in Kiev’s criminal underground, the evidence mounts that Misha may be someplace even worse: the zoo of a Chechen warlord.
What ensues is for Viktor both a quest and an odyssey of atonement, and for the reader, a stirring mix of the comic and the tragic, the heartbreaking and the inspiring.
'An understated fantasy with an unlikely but likeable hero' The TimesWhen Igor accidentally travels back to 1957 Kyiv, he finds out that the past isn't as rosy as it seems. In fact it's positively dangerous...Igor is confident his old Soviet policeman's uniform will be the best costume at the party. But he hasn't gone far before he realises something is wrong. The streets are unusually dark and empty, and the only person to emerge from the shadows runs away from him in terror. After a perplexing conversation with the terrified man, who turns out to be a wine smuggler, and on recovering from the resulting hangover, Igor comes to an unbelievable conclusion: he has found his way back to 1957 Kyiv. And it isn't the innocent era his mother and her friends have so sentimentally described. As he travels between centuries, his life becomes more and more complicated. The unusual gardener who lives in his mother's shed keeps disappearing, his best friend has blackmailed the wrong people, and Igor has fallen in love with a married woman in a time before he was born. With his mother's disapproval at his absences growing, and his adventures in each time frame starting to catch up with him, Igor has to survive the past if he wants any kind of future.
'Kurkov is a fine satirist and a real, blackly comic, find' ObserverDiscover the international thriller, shot through with black satire and authentic detail, by one of Ukraine's most highly acclaimed authors.When the corpse of a distinguished general and presidential adviser is found, attached to an advertising balloon, lieutenant Viktor Slutsky is sent in to investigate. Meanwhile, KGB officer Nik Tsensky arrives in Kyiv for a secret mission. A larger-than-life hitman, bombs under furniture, a hearse, a deaf-and-dumb blonde, a tortoise and a parrot all play a part as Kurkov evokes a world of secret militia not seen before in Western fiction.
'Good-hearted and brutal at the same time, The Milkman in the Night is a complex, unsettling mixture of bleakness and warmth' Sunday TimesRead this eccentric epic from the author of cult classic Death and the PenguinSemyon is disturbed. He has woken up in the living room with blood on his shirt, an angry wife and no idea where he was the night before. When this happens several mornings in a row, he realises he needs to investigate. After his friend Volodka follows him one night, they discover he's meeting a tall, blonde woman and accompanying her to her apartment. In the daytime he doesn't know this woman or where her apartment is and, odder yet, someone is watching Volodka watching Semyon. Meanwhile, there are some strange goings-on in Kyiv - an unemployed sniffer-dog handler makes a dangerous discovery, a single mother is providing breast milk for an unusual recipient and a vengeful cat is on the loose...
