Evgeniy Vodolazkin
Vodolazkin was catapulted to prominence by his debut novel Solovyov and Larionov, which was not only very popular with readers, but was also rewarded with a place on the shortlist for both the Andrei Bely Prize (2009) and the Big Book Award (2010). Prior to this, Vodolazkin was best known within his academic field of Old Russian literature - a subject on which he is an internationally recognised expert with numerous publications to his name. Vodolazkin, a regular contributor to newspapers and magazines, has most recently published the novel Lavr, shunning the cliches of historical fiction in favour of capturing the spirit and power of the ancient texts that he knows so well.
