Russian Booker is a non-state prize that has been awarded annually to the author of the best novel in Russian for the last twenty years. In addition to the material encouragement of the author, it serves to popularize serious prose and contributes to its commercial promotion to the general reader.
Each year, the Booker Committee forms a jury of five authoritative writers and cultural figures in Russia, who are responsible for determining the winner of the competition. Each of the jury members also has the right to replenish the list of nominees. This jury meets three times a year - first to form a common list (“long list”), then to leave only six works in it (“short list”) and, finally, to select a winner. This year the first meeting has already taken place, and following its results a list of 24 works that have been created over the past two years has been published.
The largest number of nominees this year was represented by Astrel Publishing House, which was published in 2011, Suicide Diary. Khadizh by Marina Akhmedova, Adaptation by Valery Bylinsky, Zagul by Oleg Zayonchkovsky, The Black Monkey by Zakhar Prilepin, The Big Book of Changes Alexei Slapovsky and "Women of Lazarus" Maria Stepnova. Four novels from the list left the publishing house this year - “Anarchists” by Alexander Ilichevsky, “Francoise, or Path to the Glacier” by Sergey Nosov, “Germans” by Alexander Terekhov and “Arbyte, or the Broad Canvas” by Evgeny Popov.
In the magazine "Banner" were published three works included in the "long list" of "Russian Booker". This is “Blue Blood” by Yuri Buida, “Pied Piper” by George Davydov and “Light Head” by Olga Slavnikova. Two more novels are presented by the editors of magazines - “October” nominated Valery Popov for the “Dance to Death” award, and “New World” - “And there is no retribution to them” by Alexander Melikhov.
Eduard Limonov's "In Cheeses" work released this year is also on the list. There is in him the work of Dmitry Bykov "Ostromov, or Sorcerer's Apprentice: A Manual on Levitation" published almost two years ago.
Three fresh novels from the list were published by Vremya Publishing House - Andrei Dmitriev's Peasant and Teenager, Nikolai Kryshchuk and Your Flight of the Bumblebee, and Anatoly Kurchatkin's Flight of the Bumblebee.
The novels “The Traitor” by Andrey Volos, “The Soldier and His Empire” by Yakov Gordin, “Before Europe” by Alexei Chepelov and “The First Brick Project” by Viktor Yagofarov will also compete for the “Russian Booker” award.
