Mikhail Pavlovich Shishkin is a Russian

Russian language

Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...

 writer. He is widely considered as one of the best contemporary Russian writers and praised for depth and complexity of his books and for his perfect command of Russian literary language.

Biography

Mikhail Shishkin was born in 1961 in Moscow

Moscow

Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

.

Shishkin studied English and German at Moscow State Pedagogical Institute

Moscow State Pedagogical University

The Moscow State Pedagogical University, previously known as the Moscow University for Women, the Second Moscow State University, the Moscow State Pedagogical Institute and the Moscow State V. I...

. After graduation he worked as a street sweeper, road worker, journalist, school teacher, and translator. He debuted as a writer in 1993, when his short story "Calligraphy Lesson" was published in Znamya

Znamya

Znamya is a Russian monthly magazine, which was established in Moscow in 1931. In 1931-1932, the magazine was published under the name of Lokaf...

 magazine. Since 1995 he has lived in Zurich

Zürich

Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...

, Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

. He averages one book every five years.

Shishkin's books have been translated into more than ten languages. His prose is universally praised for style, e.g., "Shishkin's language is wonderfully lucid and concise. Without sounding archaic, it reaches over the heads of Tolstoy

Tolstoy

Tolstoy, or Tolstoi is a prominent family of Russian nobility, descending from Andrey Kharitonovich Tolstoy who served under Vasily II of Moscow...

 and Dostoevsky (whose relationship with the Russian language was often uneasy) to the tradition of Pushkin." He deals with universal themes like death, resurrection, and love.

Fiction

• "Calligraphy Lesson", short story (1993)
• One Night Befalls Us All / Всех ожидает одна ночь, novel (1993)
• Blind Musician / Слепой музыкант, novella (1994)
• The Taking of Izmail / Взятие Измаила, novel (1999) - Russian Booker Prize
  Russian Booker Prize
  The Russian Booker Prize is a Russian literary award modeled after the Booker Prize and inaugurated in 1992 by English Chief Executive Sir Michael Caine...
  
   - 2000
• Saved language, short story (2001)
• Maiden Hair / Венерин Волос, novel (2005) - Big Book Prize - 2006, National Best-Seller Prize - 2006
• Pismovnik / Письмовник, novel (2010)

Non-Fiction

• Russian Switzerland / Русская Швейцария literary and historical guidebook (2000)
• Montreux-Missolunghi-Astapovo, in the Steps of Byron and Tolstoy / Montreux-Missolunghi-Astapowo, Auf den Spuren von Byron und Tolstoj (2002), an essay collection, in German (2002) - Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger
  Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger
  The Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger is a French literary prize created in 1948. It is awarded yearly in two categories: Novel and Essay for books translated in to French.- Prix du Meilleur livre étranger — Novel :* 2010: Gonçalo M...
  
  - 2005