Andrey Kurkov graduated from Kyiv Pedagogical Academy of Foreign Languages in 1983. Death and the Penguin, the first of his novels to be translated into English, as well as into more than thirty other languages, has been in print since its publication in 2001. Since the beginning of the Russian invasion, he has published unrivalled reports from his country in newspapers and magazines all over the world. He has become, in the process, a crucial voice for the people of Ukraine.