Guzel Yakhina

Guzel Shamilevna Yakhina was born in Kazan.[1] Her mother is a doctor, while her father is an engineer. She spoke Tatar at home and learned Russian only after she started going to daycare.[2]

She studied at the Department of Foreign Languages in the Tatar State University of Humanities and Education. In 1999, she moved to Moscow. In 2015, she graduated from the Moscow School of Film with a degree in screenwriting.[3]

Yakhina worked in public relations and advertising. She began her writing career with publications in the journals Neva and Oktyabr. Sections of her debut novel Zuleikha appeared in the journal Siberian Fires.

Yakhina's debut novel is based on the experiences of her grandmother, a Tatar. In the 1930s, as part of dekulakization programme, the Soviets forcefully relocated many Tatars from the European part of Russia to Siberia. Yakhina's grandmother was among them. She was exiled at a young age and was able to return home only sixteen years later. The novel describes the experiences of Zuleikha, a peasant Tatar woman. Her husband resisted dekulakization and was killed. Zuleikha was transported to Siberia and left in a remote location on Angara River with little means of survival. Zuleikha had to overcome the harsh conditions, build relationships with other exiles and forge her new identity and reasons for living.[1] Yakhina initially wrote the draft as a screenplay, and later rewrote it as a novel.[4] Before being accepted for publication, the novel was rejected by multiple publishers.[5]

• Yasnaya Polyana, 2015[1]
• Big Book for Zuleikha, 2015[7]
• Ticket to the Stars, literary prize of the City of Kazan, 2015[8]
• Les prix du magazine "Transfuge" de la rentrée littéraire, France 2017[9]