Marina Stepnova was born in 1971 in the small town of Efremov, in the Tula region. She was raised in Moldova and later moved to Moscow for higher education. She graduated from The Gorky Literary Institute and completed postgraduate studies at the Institute of World Literature. Stepnova’s translation from Romanian of the play Nameless Star by Mihail Sebastian has been staged by numerous theaters throughout Russia.
Marina Stepnova is the author of several novels, including The Women of Lazarus, the Big Book Award winner and a national longseller.
Stepnova also works as a scriptwriter with prominent directors such as Kantemir Balagov and Avdotya Smirnova. In addition, she teaches creative writing and has discovered and championed new literary voices.
Since 2022, Marina Stepnova resides with her family in Italy.
Selected books
Bibliography
2020 — A New Breed aka The Garden, novel
2014 — The Italian Lessons, novel
2011 — The Women of Lazarus, novel
2005 — The Surgeon, novel
Literary awards
Winner of the Yasnaya Polyana Prize 2021 (readers’ choice)
Shortlisted for the Big Book Award 2021
Shortlisted for the National Book of the Year 2020
The Big Book Award 2012 (third prize by the jury and readers’ choice)
Shortlisted for the Russian Booker Prize 2012
Shortlisted for the National Bestseller Prize 2012
Shortlisted for Yasnaya Polyana Prize 2012
Nominated for the National Bestseller Prize 2005