Oleg Pavlov was only 24 years old when his first novel, A Military Tale, was published in Novyi mir and received positive attention not only from critics but from the jury for the Russian Booker Prize, which short-listed the novel for the 1995 award.

Aleksey Slapovsky was born in 1957 in the region of Saratov, Russia. He started his literary career in the 80′s as a dramatist; his first significant work is called ‘Sincere Artist, Unwritten Novel’ (1990). He made his name with the novel ‘It’s Not Me’ (Russian title «Я НЕ Я») which was short-listed for the prestigious national Booker Prize.

Elena Simonovna Chizhova, born in Leningrad in 1957, has established herself as one of Russia’s leading modern writers. Over the last decade, all her novels have received prestigious awards and recognition, culminating in the Russian Booker Prize 2009 for her latest work, A Time of Women.