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Andrey Kurkov (born in 1961 in Saint Petersburg, RussiaAndrey Kurkov is a Ukrainian novelist who writes in Russian. His father was a test pilot for the Soviet Union and his mother was a doctor. He is the author of 13 novels and of 5 books for children. His work is currently translated into 25 languages including English, Japanese, French, Chinese and Hebrew. He has also written assorted articles for vaious publications world-wide.

His books are full of black humour, post-soviet reality and elements of surrealism.

Kurkov started writing at the age of seven when after the death of two of his three pet hamsters, he wrote a poem about the loneliness of the remaining pet. He also produced poetry about Lenin, purportedly inspired by his Soviet education at the time.

As a trained Japanese translator Kurkov was assigned military service assisting the KGB. However, he managed to get his papers changed to service with the military police. This offered him a greater degree of freedom during and after his service period. He was assigned a prision guard position in Odessa. It was during this period that Kurkov managed to write all of his children's stories.

Kurkov's first novel was published two weeks before the fall of the Soviet Union and in the ensuing social and political turmoil he made the first steps towards self-publishing and distribution. Borrowing money off of friends to fund his work he managed to publish around 75,000 books independently. Whilst organising distribtuion around the Ukraine, he would also man stalls on busy streets to sell copies by hand.

Like many successful writers Kurkov had difficulty establishing an initial publishing contract. He reportedly received 500 rejections before being accepted in which time he had written almost 8 complete novels.

Later in his career he has received further acclaim by being one of the most successful Ukranian authors in the post-Soviet era and featuring highly on European bestseller lists.

It is interesting to note that as a Ukranian writing in Russian, Kurkov has come under criticism from some of his contemporaries for not supporting the blossoming Ukranian literary movement.