Andrey Kurkov, the renowned Ukrainian author and president of PEN Ukraine, will give the opening keynote address at the U.S. Book Show. Kurkov will open the virtual trade book fair in conversation with Edward Nawotka, Publishers Weekly’s international editor, and will discuss writing and publishing in time of war. The opening keynote, which will be in English, will take place on May 24 at 10:30 a.m. ET.
The author of 19 novels (a dozen of which have been translated into English), nine children’s books, and 20 movie and television scripts, Kurkov became known on the world stage with his international bestseller Death and the Penguin, a bleak portrait of post-Soviet Ukraine published in 1996 (and first published in English in 2001). His most recent novel is Grey Bees (Deep Vellum, 2022), translated from the Russian by Boris Dralyuk. In addition to his novels, in 2014 Kurkov published Ukraine Diaries: Dispatches from Kiev, a first hand account from the capital city of Ukraine as the Ukrainian president was being impeached, Crimea was being invaded by Russia, and the country's separatist uprising was at its peak.
Kurkov, who writes in Russian, was born near Leningrad in 1961, and raised from the age of two in Ukraine. His first books were self-published and garnered hundreds of rejections before finding a home in traditional publishing. He became known to international media as a commentator and journalist, resulting in Ukraine Diaries. He lived until recently in Kyiv, with his British wife and their three children. He is now staying outside Kyiv as the Russian invasion into Ukraine continues.
The 2022 U.S. Book Show will run online from May 23–26. For more information, click here.
