Lyudmila Ulitskaya: creativity and political views

On January 31, writer Lyudmila Ulitskaya told pranksters Vovan and Lexus (Vladimir Kuznetsov and Alexey Stolyarov) that royalties from the sale of her books, including in Russia, go to help Ukraine. The next day, the AST publishing house froze payment of royalties to the writer. Details of her biography are in the Kommersant certificate.

Ulitskaya Lyudmila Evgenievna was born on February 21, 1943 in Davlekanovo (Bashkiria) into a Jewish family. She graduated from the Faculty of Biology of Moscow State University and worked at the Institute of General Genetics of the USSR Academy of Sciences. She resigned in 1970, having been caught distributing literature banned in the USSR (samizdat).

After leaving the Institute of General Genetics, she was engaged in translating poetry from the Mongolian language. Then she worked as the head of the literary department at the Jewish Chamber Musical Theater. I started writing scripts. She participated in the creation of the cartoons “One Hundred Buttons” (1983) and “The Mystery of Toys” (1987).

In 1990, the first film based on her script was released, “The Liberty Sisters,” and in 1991, the second, “A Woman for All.” In 1992, the story “Sonechka” was published in the magazine “New World”. In 1993, the writer’s first book was published – a collection of stories “Poor Relatives”. In 1996, Ulitskaya published the book “Medea and Her Children,” and in 2001, “The Case of Kukotsky.” The writer’s book “Sincerely yours Shurik”, published in 2003, became the book of the year in Russia.

In 2007, she established the Foundation for the Support of Humanitarian Initiatives. From 2007 to 2010, she was the organizer of a series of books by various authors on cultural anthropology for children, “The Other, Others, About Others.” In 2008 she released a collection of plays “Russian Jam and Others”. In 2012 she became one of the founders of the League of Voters. In 2013, she hosted the program “Current Cinema with Lyudmila Ulitskaya” on the Kultura TV channel.

In October of the same year, she became a member of the federal civil committee of the Civic Platform party. In March 2015, she asked to suspend her membership due to disagreement with the party’s policies. In 2016, she was a confidant of the Yabloko party in the State Duma elections. In 2018, she was declared persona non grata in Azerbaijan for visiting the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. In February 2022, she opposed Russia’s special operation in Ukraine and emigrated to Germany. In August 2023, she was deprived of the title of honorary professor at the Mendeleev University of Chemical Technology.

In total, he is the author of more than 20 books, which have been translated into approximately 30 languages. Her most famous works were: “Medea and Her Children” (1996), “Kukotsky’s Case” (2001), “Sincerely yours Shurik” (2003), “Daniel Stein, translator” (2006), “Green Tent” (2011) and Jacob’s Ladder (2015). She has also written scripts for six films and one TV series. Based on her works, film adaptations of “Dying is Easy” (1999), “Kukotsky’s Case” (2005) and “From Nowhere with Love, or Merry Funeral” were released.

Awarded the Order of the Legion of Honor (France, 2004 and 2014). He is a laureate of Russian awards “Russian Booker” (2001), “Big Book” (2007 and 2016) and the Moscow Helsinki Group “For the protection of human rights through culture and art” (2021).

She was married three times. From her second marriage, the writer has sons Alexey and Peter. Currently married to sculptor Alexei Krasulin.