Ukraine Diaries

Andrey Kurkov’s Ukraine Diaries offer a unique personal insight into one of the world’s most complex trouble spots. The fact that Kurkov lives in the heart of Kiev, and the fact that he can write so well, give an eloquence and immediacy to his account of day to day life in the teeth of a crisis. This is history, with feeling – Michael Palin
[Kurkov writes] in the style of an informed but convivial flaneur, and his entries crackle with irony and humour – Marcus Tanner * Independent *
Controlled rage and wry wit, nicely captured in Sam Taylor’s translation… Kurkov’s diaries are valuable * The Economist *
As his diaries make clear, real life has outstripped his blackly comic fiction for surreal detail, political cynicism and latent menace – Ben Hoyle * The Times, Book of the week *
The power…lies in the interweaving of the extraordinary and the mundane – John Thornhill * Financial Times *
What it lacks in first-hand reportage…it makes up for in atmosphere. We learn what the revolution is like not from the point of view of the demonstrators but from the ordinary citizens, who are left to pick up the pieces after the foreign television crews have gone home – Colin Freeman * Telegraph *
[Kurkov’s diaries] seamlessly mix the everyday with the seminal and provide a fascinating guide to how Ukraine has found itself where it is… The prose is charming… I am glad Kurkov will be at the centre of the events as they unfold, ready to distil both tragedy and delight into his pithy, humane prose – Oliver Bullough * Observer *
Those 500 yards [from Kurkov’s flat to the Maidan] permit Kurkov to take a thoughtful stance towards evolutionary moments, their goals, and the people who come to the fore at such times – Padraig Belton * Times Literary Supplement *

Andrey Kurkov (Author)

Andrey Kurkov is a writer, journalist, and the current president of PEN Ukraine. He was born in St Petersburg in 1961. Having graduated from the Kiev Foreign Languages Institute, he worked for some time as a journalist, did his military service as a prison warder in Odessa, then became a writer of screenplays and author of critically acclaimed and popular novels, including the bestselling Death and the Penguin. Kurkov has long been a respected commentator on Ukraine for the world’s media, notably in the U.K., France, Germany, and the United States.

Sam Taylor (Translator)

Sam Taylor is an award-winning literary translator and novelist. He has translated more than 60 books from French including Laurent Binet’s HHhH and Leila Slimani’s Lullaby.

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