Natalia Smirnova: Moscow Noir

SERGEI SAMSONOVwas born in 1980 in Podolsk. He works as a copywriter in a Moscow publishing house and contributes to the Ex Libris NG book review. His first novel, Legs (Nogi) , was translated into Italian. His second novel, The Kamlaev Anomaly (Anomalia Kamlaeva) , was short-listed for the National Best Seller Prize. Samsonov’s most recent novel, Oxygenic Limit (Kislorodny predel) , was published in 2009.

GLEB SHULPYAKOVwas born in 1971. His first collection of poems, The Flick , was published in 2001 and won the Triumph Prize. He is the author of the novels The Sinan Book (Kniga Sinana) and Tsunami , and contributes essays and criticism to Russian periodicals. He has translated the poetry of Ted Hughes and Robert Hass into Russian, as well as W.H. Auden’s essays. Shulpyakov is currently an editor at the literary magazine New Youth . He lives in Moscow.

NATALIA SMIRNOVAwas born in 1978 in Moscow. After studying law and working as a lawyer, she moved to St. Petersburg to work as a foreign rights manager for a publisher. In 2006 she cofounded the Goumen & Smirnova Literary Agency, with Julia Goumen, representing Russian authors worldwide.

ANNA STAROBINETSis a journalist and scriptwriter. Her collection of short stories An Awkward Age (Perekhodny vozrast) has been translated into several languages. She is also the author of the novel Refuge 3/9 (Ubezhische 3/9) and the short story collection Cold Spell (Rezkoe pokholodanie). All of her works have been nominated for the National Best Seller Prize. She lives in Moscow with her husband and daughter.

VLADIMIR TUCHKOV, born in 1949, is an international correspondent for Vesti.ru, an online newspaper. His books have been short-listed for the Andrei Bely Prize and twice for the Anti-Booker Prize. His cyberpunk novel The Dancer (Tantsor) has drawn tremendous acclaim.

IGOR ZOTOVwas born in Moscow in 1955. He has worked at the newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta for more than ten years, including as deputy editor in chief. He founded and for five years ran the book supplement Ex Libris NG. He is the author of two books and several hundred articles published in the Russian and foreign media.