In this new collection, six Russian women take a sober view of the modern world after two decades of social upheaval. The authors featured in Still Waters Run Deep are Yaroslava Pulinovich, Olga Rimsha, Irina Bogatereva, Ksenia Zhukova, Anna Lavrinenko and Anna Leonidova. All in their 20s or 30s, they have all won Russia’s prestigious Debut Prize. There are fascinating and frank self-portraits, alongside merciless takes on the opposite sex. Taken together, their vision is always sharp and often unexpected, leaving no taboo unturned.
Yaroslava Pulinovich (b. 1987) is a playwright from Omsk in Siberia. Natasha’s Dream is the monologue of an orphaned teenage girl who falls in love with a reporter with immoral sights on her life story. Her latest play, The Bride of Clubs, is being produced at the London Royal Court Theatre.
Olga Rimsha (b. 1988) is from Novosibirsk in Siberia, and won the Debut Prize for her short novel Still Waters.
Irina Bogatereva (b. 1982) was born on the Volga, and won the Debut Prize for her novel Auto-Stop.
Ksenia Zhukova (b. 1981), from Moscow, won the Debut Prize in 2003 and again in 2011 for 20 Letters from the 1920s.
Anna Lavrinenko (b. 1984) lives in Yaroslavl, Central Russia, the setting for all her stories. She won the Debut Prize in 2006.
Anna Leonidova (b. 1979) has several prize-winning novels to her name. Before I Croak won the Debut in 2011.
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