Mikhail Shishkin
Shishkin is one of the most gifted writers on the Russian literary scene, even more so because, regardless of the fashion, he has succeeded in developing his own original style and literary conception - Ulrich Schmidt, 'Neue Züricher Zeitung'
Mikhail Shishkin was born in 1961 and grew up in Moscow. He studied at the Moscow State Pedagogical Institute where he trained as a teacher. Following his graduation in 1982, Shishkin worked as a journalist at ‘Rovesnik’ and then, between 1985 and 1995, as a teacher of English and German. In 1995 he moved to Switzerland and he lives in Zurich to this day.
1993 saw Shishkin’s highly praised writing debut, ‘Урок Каллиграфии’ (‘Calligraphy Lesson’) published in the Russian journal 'Знамя'. This work, steeped in Russian atmospherics, is highly allusive and plays with the very idea of words; their purpose, effect and formulation. It has been recently translated into English by Marian Schwartz (and is available online). Since his debut, Shishkin has published three novels. ‘Взятие Измаила’ (‘Seizure of Ismael’) won the 2000 Booker Prize and ‘Венерин Волос’ (‘Maiden Hair’) won the National Bestseller Prize in 2005 and the Russian ‘Big Book’ Prize in 2006.
In Switzerland, Shishkin works as an interpreter for the Swiss authorities, interviewing asylum seekers from Russia and other parts of the former Soviet Union - a profession which yields stories and descriptions that appear in his writing. As well as Russian, he also writes, and has been published, in German.
Buoyed by Shishkin’s sophisticated language and phrases of unique melody, predictable comparisons have been made to that other writer of extraordinary linguistic versatility, Vladimir Nabokov. Though he understands himself as within a tradition of Russian writers in exile, for Shishkin, the question ‘to return or not to return to Russia’ simply does not exist. He asserts that ‘for a better understanding of the self one should live everywhere’.
Main published works:
Урок каллиграфии ('Calligraphy Lesson'), Short story, ‘Znamya’, Moscow, Nr.1/1993; ‘Vagrius’, Moscow, 2001
Prize for the best Debut of the year, Moscow 1994
French 'La leçon de calligraphie', 1997, ‘Albin Michel’, Paris, published in the anthology Les Fleurs du Mal russe
revised translation, 2005, published by ‘Fayard’, Paris in the anthology La prose russe contemporaine.
Русская Швейцария / Литературно-исторический путеводитель (Russian Switzerland / A literary-historical Guide), ‘Pano-Verlag’, Zürich, 2000; ‘Vagrius’, Moscow, 2006
Literary Prize of Canton Zürich „Werkjahr des Kantons Zürich“, 2000, Zürich;
German 'Die russische Schweiz / Ein literarisch-historischer Reiseführer', Limmat Verlag, Zürich, 2000.
French 'La Suisse russe', Fayard, Paris, 2007.
Взятие Измаила ('The Seizure of Ismail'), ‘Znamya’, Moscow, Nr. 10/11/12-1999; ‘Vagrius’, Moscow, 2000, 2006.
Booker-Prize for the best Russian novel of the year Moscow, 2000.
Globus-Prize, Moscow, 2000.
French: La Prise d’Izmail, Fayard, Paris, 2003
Italian: Presa di Izmail, Voland edizione, Rom, 2007.
Serbian: Zauzimanije Izmaila, Paideia, Beograd 2005
Chinese: People’s literature, Peking, 2003.
Montreux-Missolunghi-Astapowo. Auf den Spuren von Byron und Tolstoj: eine literarische Wanderung vom Genfer See ins Berner Oberland ('Tracing Byron and Tolstoj in the Alps)' Limmat Verlag, Zürich 2002. (This book was written in German)
Main literary Prize of Zürich (Werkjahr) 2002
French: Dans les Pas de Byron et Tolstoi Noir sur Blanc, Paris, 2005
French literary Prize for the best foreign book of the year “Le prix du meilleur livre étranger 2005 (essai)”, Paris, 2005
Венерин волос (Maiden’s hair) ‘Znamya’, Moscow, Nr. 4/5/6-2005; ‘Vagrius’, Moscow, 2005.
National Bestseller-Prize 2005, Sankt-Petersburg.
National “Big book” Prize 2006, Moscow
French: La cheveu de Venus Fayard, Paris, 2007
Italian: Capelvenere Voland edizione, Rom, 2006
Serbian: Paideia, Beograd, 2006
Poland: Noir sur Blanc, Warsaw, 2008
Bulgaria: Fakel, Sofia, 2007
Chinese: People’s literature, Peking, 2006
Germany: Das Venushaar DVA, München, 2010
Estonia: Varrak, Tallinn 2010
Norway: Oktober Publishing house, Oslo, 2010