Lyudmila Ulitskaya facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Lyudmila Ulitskaya
Людмила Улицкая |
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In 2023
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| Born | February 21, 1943 Davlekanovo, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union |
| Alma mater | Moscow State University |
| Genre | Fiction, script writing |
| Literary movement | Aestheticism |
| Notable works | Sonechka "The Big Green Tent" "Jacob's Ladder" The Funeral Party Medea and Her Children Daniel Stein, Interpreter “Just the Plague” |
| Spouse | Andrej Krasulin |
Lyudmila Evgenyevna Ulitskaya (Russian: Людмила Евгеньевна Улицкая) is a famous Russian writer. She was born on February 21, 1943. In 2014, she won the important Austrian State Prize for European Literature for all her books.
In 2006, she published Daniel Stein, Interpreter. This book talks about understanding and peace between different religions. She also won the Park Kyong-ni Prize in 2012.
Contents
About Lyudmila Ulitskaya
Ulitskaya was born in Davlekanovo, a town in Russia. Her family moved to Moscow when she was nine months old. In Moscow, her family lived in apartments shared by many families.
After childhood, she studied genetics (the study of how living things inherit traits) at Moscow State University. She worked at the Institute of General Genetics for two years. Then, in 1970, she lost her job because she was sharing books that were not allowed by the government at the time.
After that, she didn't work for about nine years. During this time, she got married and had two children. In 1979, Ulitskaya started her writing career. She joined a Jewish drama theater, helping with plays. She became the director for plays at the Hebrew Theatre of Moscow.
Her first short stories were published in 1990. A story that later became her famous novel Sonechka was first printed in a magazine in 1992. In 1993, she published her first novel in France. Her first novel in Russian came out in 1994.
Until 2022, Ulitskaya lived in both Moscow and Israel. Since 2022, she has been living in Berlin, Germany.
Her Family Life
Lyudmila Ulitskaya's parents were both scientists. Her mother was a biochemist, and her father was an engineer. She was engaged to an American man who sadly died in a car accident before they could marry.
She has learned German, French, and English. However, she has said that she doesn't know any of them perfectly. She often works in Italy, where she owns an apartment.
Lyudmila Ulitskaya has been married three times. Her first husband was Yuri Taits. Her second husband was Mikhail Evgeniev, a geneticist. They have two sons, Aleksey (born in 1972), who is a businessman, and Pyotr (born in 1975), who is a jazz musician. One of her sons went to Columbia University. As of 2024, she is married to the sculptor Andrey Krasulin.
Her Books and Stories
How She Writes
In her stories, Ulitskaya describes her characters from a fair distance. She doesn't focus too much on how characters change or on their deep, troubled thoughts. Instead, she gives quick descriptions. She also doesn't use a lot of talking (dialogue) in her books.
A writer named Masha Gessen said that Ulitskaya's writing is very interesting and makes you want to keep reading. Gessen felt she had to know what would happen next in the story.
Main Ideas in Her Work
Some of the important ideas in her books are:
- The need for people of different religions and backgrounds to get along.
- The challenges faced by smart, educated people in the Soviet Union.
- How women are creating new roles for themselves in society.
- Using everyday life as a topic for her stories.
Other Activities
Ulitskaya also wrote two movie scripts in the early 1990s. These were The Liberty Sisters (1990) and A Woman for All (1991). She often writes articles about social issues. She also helps with projects that make it easier for people to read books. In March 2014, Ulitskaya was a main speaker at an anti-war protest in Moscow.
Her Views on Politics
Because Ulitskaya writes about both religion and politics, she has become an important voice in Russian political discussions. In 2011 and 2012, when there were many protests against the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, she joined a group called the League of Voters. This group worked to fight against unfair elections.
Some government-owned news outlets in Russia, like Izvestia, have criticized her. She is strongly against Putin. At a press conference for her book The Big Green Tent (2010), she said that Russia was becoming like the time of Joseph Stalin, which made her feel "a whiff of fear."
However, she believes that Moscow is not culturally part of Europe. This is different from some other people who are against Putin.
Lyudmila Ulitskaya exchanged letters with Mikhail Khodorkovsky, a Russian businessman who was in jail. Ulitskaya believes that the reasons he was jailed were political and "absurd." Their letters were published in a book with writings from other authors.
On the second day of the Russian war against Ukraine in 2022, a newspaper called Novaya Gazeta published a statement by Ulitskaya. In it, she strongly condemned the war, saying she felt "Pain. Fear. Shame." She also signed an appeal with other famous writers. They asked all Russian speakers to share the truth about the war inside Russia. Since March 2022, she has been living in Berlin.
Awards and Honors
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- Penne Prize (1997, Italy)
- Medici Prize (1998, France)
- Giuseppe Acerbi Award (1998, Italy) for her novel Sonechka
- Penne Prize Winner (2000, Moscow) for Medea and Her Children
- Chevalier of the Ordre des Palmes Académiques (2003, France)
- Novel of the Year Prize (2004, Russia) for Sincerely yours, Shurik
- Best Writer of the Year Ivanushka Prize (2004, Russia)
- Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (2004, France)
- National Order of the Legion of Honour (2004, 2014, France)
- National Literature Prize (2005, China) for Sincerely yours, Shurik
- Penne Prize (2006, Italy) for The Kukotsky Enigma
- National Olympia Prize of Russian Academy of Business (2007, Russia)
- Big Book Award (2007, Russia) for Daniel Stein, Interpreter
- Father Alexander Men Award (2008, Germany-Russia)
- Man Booker International Prize nominee (2009)
- Simone de Beauvoir Prize (2011, France)
- Russian Booker Prize (2011, Russia) for The Kukotsky Enigma
- Pak Kyong-ni Prize (2012, South Korea)
- Austrian State Prize for European Literature (2014, Austria)
- Big Book Award, 3rd place (2016, Russia) for Yakov's Ladder
- Officer of the Legion of Honor
- Siegfried Lenz Prize (2020)
- Prix Formentor (2022)
Online Text
- Kukotsky's Case full text
See also
In Spanish: Liudmila Ulítskaya para niños
