Elena Chizhova
Biography
Elena Chizhova, a former economist, teacher and entrepreneur, finally turned to writing in 1996 after being rescued from a burning cruise ship. Since that time she has been consumed by the need to write, and has enjoyed considerable success as a result. Chizhova’s prose shuns trickery in favour of emotional honesty in order to probe the weeping sores of Russian history that contemporary culture would sooner forget.
Chizhova was born in 1957 in Leningrad, the city which provides the setting for her award-winning novel, The Time of Women, about the secret culture of resistance and remembrance amongst the mothers, grandmothers, aunts and daughters of Russia. Chizhova is the director of the local PEN centre in St. Petersburg.
Books /selected/
Полукровка / The Half-Blood (2010)
Время женщин / The Time of Women (2009)
Преступница / The Criminal (2004)
Крошки Цахес / The Little Zaches (2000)
Prizes and awards
2009 - The Russian Booker Prize
2005 - Shortlisted for the Russian Booker Prize
2003 - Shortlisted for the Russian Booker Prize
2001 - Znamya Prize