Vladimir Makanin

Vladimir Makanin, a former math teacher with a love of chess, published his first novel, Straight Line, in 1965, and has published collections and novels regularly ever since, making him a modern classic. Makanin’s stories and novels often incorporate futuristic and mystical elements, and some of his more recent books, such as Asan, which won the 2008 Big Book Award, and Underground, a 1999 Russian Booker finalist, overtly draw on Russian classics as they examine, respectively, the Chechen War and individuals left out of society during Russia’s social changes. Makanin won the Russian Booker in 1993 for Baize-Covered Table with Decanter.