Sergei Kostin
Biography
Sergei Kostin is a spy novelist, expert in the history of espionage, and documentary film maker.
Graduating from the Moscow State Institute of Foreign Languages, Kostin refused an offer to collaborate with Soviet intelligence, preferring to work as a translator in Algeria. He returned to the theme of espionage during the Nineties, after being graduated from Cinema College (VGIK) as scriptwriter and while working for Russian and French TV Channels.
Since then he has published several non-fiction books on the Cold War and espionage, showing the unglamorous reality of the spy's life (such as The Man Behind the Rosenbergs published in English by Enigma Books in 2001) and a series of spy thrillers centring on his hero Paco Arraya (Paris Weekend, published in English by Enigma Books, 2008, Ram-Ram, and Sleepless in Afganistan). A movie based on Kostin’s book Bonjour Farewell has recently been made as L'Affaire Farewell, directed by Christian Carion and starring Emir Kusturica, Guillaume Canet, Ingeborga Dapkunaite and Willem Dafoe. Negotiations are currently underway about further adaptations of Kostin's work.
Kostin's latest work The Death of the White Mouse is out in Russia in 2011.
Books
Смерть белой мыши / Death of a White Mouse (2011)
Рам-Рам / Ram-Ram (2008)
Бог не звонит по мобильному / Paris Weekend (2006)
Афганская бессонница / Sleepless in Afghanistan (2006)
In Translation /selected/
in English
Paris Weekend (2008)
Adieu Farewell (2009)
The Man Behinde the Rosenbergs (2001)
Prizes and awards
2007 - Shortlisted for National Bestseller Prize