Andrey Kyrkov Ukrainian writer, teacher, filmmaker. Date of Birth: 23.04.1961 Country: Ukraine

Biography of Andrey Kurkov

Andrey Kurkov is a Ukrainian writer, teacher, and filmmaker. He is the only writer from the post-Soviet space whose books have made it to the top ten European bestsellers. Born in Budogosch, Leningrad region, Andrey Kurkov has been living in Kyiv since early childhood. He graduated from the Kiev State Pedagogical Institute of Foreign Languages in 1983. From 1985 to 1987, he served as a guard in the Odessa Correctional Colony No. 51. He started writing in high school and later completed his studies as a translator of the Japanese language. Kurkov worked as an editor at the Dnepr Publishing House and became a member of the English PEN Club in 1988. He is now the author of thirteen novels and five children's books.

Since the 1990s, all of Kurkov's works in the Russian language have been published by Folio Publishing House in Kharkiv, Ukraine. Since 2005, his works have been published in Russia by Amfora Publishing House in St. Petersburg. His novel "Death and the Penguin" sold 150,000 copies in Ukraine, more than any other contemporary Ukrainian writer. Kurkov's books have been translated into 21 languages.

In March 2008, Andrey Kurkov's novel "The Milkman in the Night" was included in the long list of the Russian literary award "National Bestseller." He taught at Bell College in Cambridge, England, and at the Film Faculty of the Theatre Institute in Kyiv, Ukraine. Kurkov also worked as a screenwriter at the Oleksandr Dovzhenko Film Studio. He is a member of the Ukrainian Union of Cinematographers since 1993 and the National Union of Writers since 1994. Since 1998, he has been a member of the European Film Academy and a permanent member of the jury for the European Film Academy's "Felix" award.

More than 20 fiction and documentary films have been produced based on his screenplays. Kurkov is married to Elizabeth Sharp, a consultant at the British Council in Ukraine, which led to his conversion to Protestantism in the "New Jerusalem" Church. They are raising three children together. Andrey Kurkov currently resides in Kyiv.