New Russia

This is a historical week for Russia, since it marks the 50th anniversary of cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin’s pioneering journey as the first man to fly into outer space. It’s also the week where the London Book Fair has named Russia its market focus country. As a whole host of Russian writers and literary publishers flock to London, I thought it would be worthwhile drawing attention to what modern-day Russian literature has to offer.

Russia has a long-standing and revered literary tradition, there’s no denying it. However, arguably even the most die-hard booklovers in the UK would be hard pushed to give examples of modern Russian writers. If you’re new to Russian fiction, as the Fair and the related seminars and readings will show, there is a lot out there to be seen and read. To get you started, here are a few of my favourites:

Boris Akunin: Grigory Chkhartishvili writes under the pseudonym Boris Akunin and has become one of Russia’s best modern-day crime novelists. His Erast Fandorin series has proved extremely popular, with many of his books being translated into a number of languages and adapted for the screen. The Diamond Chariot was the final book in the Fandorin series and was one of the fastest selling Russian books of all time. It will be published by Orion books in September 2011. A Japan enthusiast, under his own name Chkharstishvili has been an editor of a Japanese literature series and has translated from Japanese into Russian.

Tatyana Tolstaya: As a member of the Tolstoy dynasty, writing is most definitely in her blood. She is perhaps best known in Russia for her essays on Russian language and her short stories. Her collection White Walls is an anthology of 23 short stories and is the most comprehensive collection of her short stories in English to be published to date. If you’re looking for some clever writing that at times makes you laugh out loud and at others makes you pause and reflect, then this is certainly worth a read.

Viktor Pelevin: When reading Pelevin, you could be forgiven for thinking that you’re reading science fiction. In fact, many of Pelevin’s books question issues such as religion and the meaning of life - as in the case of The Life of Insects - and appearance versus reality- in the cases of Omon Ra and Babylon. In 1992, his collection of short stories entitled The Blue Lantern received the first annual Russian Little Booker Prize

Ludmila Ulitskaya: She shot to fame in 1992 when Russian literary magazine Novy Mir (New World) published her first novella Sonechka. In 2001, she won the Russian Booker Prize for her novel The Kukotsky Case. Her novels address issues such as religion, gender, ethnic tensions and other problems in modern-day Russian society. Her best-selling novel Daniel Stein-Interpreter will be published in an English translation by Duckworth Press later this year.