Andrey Kurkov born in 1961 in Leningrad, Russia, is a Ukrainian novelist and essayist who lives from early childhood in Kyiv and writes in Russian, Ukrainian and English. He is the author of over 20 novels and 10 books for children. His work is currently translated into 42 languages, including English, Japanese, French, Chinese, Swedish and Hebrew. His books are full of black humour, Soviet and post-Soviet reality with elements of surrealism. In 2018-2022 Andrey Kurkov was President of PEN Ukraine. He also regularly writes articles and essays on Ukraine for The Guardian, The Financial Times, The Grid, The Economist and for other international media.