Andrey Kurkov (born in 1961 in Leningrad, Russia) is a Ukrainian novelist who writes in Russian. His father was a test pilot for the Soviet Union and his mother was a doctor. He is the author of 13 novels and 5 books for children. His work is currently translated into 25 languages including English, Japanese, French, Chinese and Hebrew. He has also written assorted articles for various publications world-wide.