Writers

Shamil Idiatullin

Born: 1971

Quick Study: Journalist and novelist Shamil Idiatullin writes books in a variety of genres – thrillers, fantasy, children’s books, and psychological dramas – that combine a journalist’s attention to detail with a fiction writer’s imagination.

The Idiatullin File: Shamil Idiatullin’s first published novel, in 2005, was the novel Rucciя (a.k.a. The Tatar Hit), a political thriller that imagines World War 3 breaking out because of a conflict between Tatarstan and Moscow. Fifteen years and several books later, Idiatullin hit the Big Book Award shortlist for the second time with his novel Former Lenin Street – a book covering topics like local politics, personal relationships, and a scandal over waste disposal. His Brezhnev City, a novel about a young boy living in a rough city with an automobile factory in 1983, won third-place jury and readers choice Big Book prizes in 2017. Idiatullin’s most recent book, The Last Time, takes an entirely different tack and has been described as “ethnofantasy,” shuffling his deck of motifs once again.

Psssst………: Idiatullin’s work as a journalist has included serving as the head of newspaper Kommersant’s regional editions department…

Idiatullin’s Places: Ulyanovsk, where he was born, and Naberezhnye Chelny, where he grew up… Kazan, where he studied journalism at Kazan State University…

The Word on Idiatullin: In a review of Former Lenin Street for the National Bestseller Award, critic Mikhail Vizel notes that, "Shamil Idiatullin is a tenacious and observant author who loves not only puns but also unexpected turns of phrase and metaphors."

Idiatullin on Idiatullin & Writing: In discussing his books in an interview with Egor Mikhailov of Afisha, Idiatullin says this of his writing, “I’m a person who’s out screaming on the street corners that I love to write and read about the here and now, that I don’t gravitate toward historical texts. That doesn’t look too sincere after City of Brezhnev turned into my best-known text but what can you do, I haven’t changed that much. That’s why I’ve always proceeded from the assumption that I’m writing about contemporary life, though readers who more or less know me clearly figure that [one of my] books will, ninety percent of the time, be about us, the here and now. And I’m still not used to the fact that a lot were disoriented after City of Brezhnev.”

Idiatullin Recommends: In an interview with Olesya Razina of Literatura Today, Idiatullin mentions that he reads a lot of contemporary Russian authors, adding that the list of authors he thinks should be read keeps growing, thanks to new discoveries. When asked who’s on the list, he names Maria Galina, Sergei Zharkovsky, Eduard Verkin, Leonid Yuzefovich, Alexei Salnikov, Andrei Lyakh, and Linor Goralik. He also notes Guzel Yakhina and Eugene Vodolazkin, saying they write quality texts and also enjoy “huge popularity, print runs of half a million in Russia, and dozens of translations into other languages.”


More on Idiatullin

Major Awards & Nominations

  • Former Lenin Street – third jury prize, Big Book Award, 2020
  • Brezhnev City – Big Book Award, third prize winner from both the jury and readers, 2017

 

Other Selected Works

  • The Last Time, novel, 2020
  • Убыр (The Vampire), mystical thriller, 2012 (pseudonym: Nail' Izmailov)
  • СССР™, novel, 2010

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