Andrej Koerkov
(Russia, 1961) is a Ukrainian writer world famous for the mix of harsh realism and absurdist humour in his novels and non fiction books. He is a respected commentator on the situation in his country. In The President's Last Love, Kurkov employs humour and cynicism to describe how a boy manages to work his way up to become the most powerful man in the country. Ukraine Diaries: Dispatches from Kiev, his eyewitness account of political unrest in the Ukraine, was published in 2014. Dairy of an Invasion (2022) and Our daily war (2024) are collections of Kurkov's writings and broadcasts. In 2024, he published The Silver Bone, the first part of The Kyiv Mysteries, his series of crime novels in historical settings. The second part The Stolen Heart will be published in 2025; the third part The Public Sauna Case is in development.
Past events
Book of My Life: Andrei Kurkov in conversation with Abdelkader Benali
About Martin Eden by Jack London.
Movies that Matter x Writers Unlimited Festival Special: 'Our Daily War'
Writer Andrei Kurkov and filmmaker Mariia Ponomarova read and showed excerpts from their work. Moderator: Bahram Sadeghi.
Writing in Times of War
Mini-college by leading historian Timothy Snyder (USA) followed by a conversation with him and fellow authors Andrei Kurkov (Ukraine) and Lisa Weeda (Netherlands). Moderator: Eva Hartog.
Seven Deadly Sins
Pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, anger and sloth: the festival asked seven authors to each choose one and write a fresh text about it. Tonight you’ll hear sinful stories with music by Dick van der Harst.
Writing in Times of Turmoil
Can a writer continue to seek refuge in imagination when all hell breaks loose? Kurkov wrote novels before revolution broke out in Kiev, of which he relates in Ukraine Diaries. Al Aswani described the Arab Spring in About Egypt: The provocative considerations of a novelist.
