Olesya Nikolaeva Poetess Date of Birth: 06.06.1955 Country: Russia

1. Olesya Nikolaeva - Russian Poet, Prose Writer, Essayist
2. International Recognition
3. Personal Life and Awards
4. Selected Works

Olesya Nikolaeva - Russian Poet, Prose Writer, Essayist

Olesya Nikolaeva is a renowned Russian poet, prose writer, and essayist. She was born in Moscow into a family of the writer and war veteran Alexander Nikolaev. On her maternal side, she has Don Cossacks ancestry. Nikolaeva began writing poetry at the age of seven and prose at fifteen. Her work started being published when she was just sixteen years old. In 1979, she graduated from the Maxim Gorky Literary Institute, majoring in poetry under the guidance of Evgeny Vinokurov. She later went on to teach literary craftsmanship at the same institute. Nikolaeva's works have been regularly published in literary journals, anthologies, and newspapers, both in Russia and internationally.

International Recognition

Nikolaeva is a member of the Union of Writers since 1988 and the PEN International since 1993. Her works have been translated into many languages worldwide. She has represented Russian poetry at various international festivals and congresses in countries such as France, the United States, Mexico, Italy, Switzerland, Cuba, and Germany.

Personal Life and Awards

Nikolaeva is married to Vladimir Vigilyansky, a priest and the head of the press service of the Moscow Patriarchate. Her brother, Dmitry Nikolaev, is a director. Throughout her career, Nikolaeva has been honored with several awards, including the Alfred Toepfer Stipend Prize (1998), the Boris Pasternak Prize (2002), the "Best Prose of the Year" by the Znamya journal (2003), and the "Antologia" for outstanding achievements in contemporary Russian poetry (2004). She received the Russian National "Poet" Award in 2006.

Selected Works

Some of Nikolaeva's notable works include "The Garden of Wonders" (1980), "On the Winter Ship" (1986), "The Fig Tree" (1989), "Here" (1990), "Rien d'autre que la vie" (1991), "An Apology of Man" (2004), and "AMOR FATI" (1997). She has also published essays such as "Spanish Letters" (2004), "Keys to the World" (1990), "L'infirme de naissance" (1993), "Mene, Tekel, Phares" (2003), and "Nothing Scary" (2007). Nikolaeva has also explored the intersection of contemporary culture and Orthodoxy in books like "Contemporary Culture and Orthodoxy" (1999) and "Orthodoxy and Freedom" (2002). Her most recent work is "The Kiss of Judas" (2008), published by the Sretensky Monastery Publishing House.