Sergey Kuznetsov (writer)

Early life

Kuznetsov was born in Moscow to Galina Kuznetsova, a French language and French literature teacher, and Yuri Kuznetsov, a well-known Soviet chemist. In 1988, Kuznetsov graduated from Moscow State University's Department of Chemistry.

Literary career

Throughout his early literary career, he focused on modern philology; his works included a monograph on Joseph Brodsky's poetics as well as translations of Stephen King and Susan Sontag. He also studied the works of Thomas Pynchon.

Kuznetsov's first published work was The Nineties: A Fairy Tale, a detective trilogy. His first work to receive critical acclaim was PG-21, a futuristic novel written together with Linor Goralik and nominated for the National Bestseller award.

Other books by Kuznetsov were also favored by the critics and were nominated for various literature awards. His young adult work Alive and Adult was awarded Best Book in Mystics & Horror of 2011 by World of SciFi (Mir Fantastiki) magazine; his novel Round-Dance of Water was shortlisted for Big Book (Bolshaya Kniga), a prominent Russian literary award.

Kuznetsov's books have been translated into many languages. Round-Dance of Water, for instance, was published in Arabic, and several chapters from the book were published independently in the Moscow Noir anthology.

Butterfly Skin was translated into English, German, Polish, Hungarian, Czech and Dutch. The publishers called it a Russian take on Silence of the Lambs, but critics pointed out that Kuznetsov "aims for more than smug nihilism. He delivers a gratifying conclusion to a sometimes overburdened and sickening journey through sadism and alienation."

His most recent novel, "Kaleidoscope", received praise from both readers and critics. Lisa Hayden, a recognized literary translator, wrote: ‘What I enjoy is reading about upheaval and how it affects and even connects characters that pop in and out of the chapters like pieces in a kaleidoscope"

Member of PEN Club and Russian Union of Cinematographers.

Journalism

In 1996 he started to write articles on pop culture for various magazines and online media. After returning from Stanford to Russia in 2002, Kuznetsov continued to work in journalism.

Kuznetsov took part in forming post-Soviet independent journalism in Russia, focusing mainly on movies and literature. He contributed to Russian editions of Premiere, Harper's Bazaar, Vogue and other magazines. He participated in multiple online projects.

In 2006, he launched Booknik, a daily online project on Jewish literature and culture that took a hard-copy quarterly form from 2007 to 2013, called Booknik Reader. In 2011, as editor-in-chief of the publication, Kuznetsov was awarded Man of the Year 5771 by the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia.

Kuznetsov is a semi-regular contributor to American periodicals, including The New York Times, The Huffington Post and others.

Entrepreneur

In 2004, Kuznetsov founded a digital marketing agency called SKCG (an acronym for Sergey Kuznetsov Content Group), aimed at developing and supporting social media projects. The company has offices in Kiev, Ukraine as well as Paris, France and in the United States; international clients include Nike, Audi, Nokia, Estée Lauder, Efes, Jeep, Bosch and other major corporations.

In 2014, Kuznetsov and his wife Ekaterina founded Marabou Science Camp, an educational project for Russian children in Europe. In 2016 they launched a Science & Vacation Program aimed at explaining science to an adult audience. Financial Times called it "a company that specialises in luxury learning with a scientific bent". One of S&V's first events was dedicated to neurophysics of scents. The lectures are legendary perfume critic Luca Turin and parfum blogger Victoria Frolova.

Personal life

Kuznetsov married Inna Kuznetsova in 1987. The couple divorced in 1993. In 1995, he married psychologist Ekaterina Kadieva. He has three children: Ekaterina (born in 1987), Anna (born in 1996) and Daniel (born in 2001).

He has lived in Paris since 2013.

Recognition

In 2001, he received a Knight Fellowship from Stanford University and moved to U.S. state of California for a year.