Leonid Yuzefovich

Writer, Jury president

Leonid Yuzefovich is a historian, novelist, and scriptwriter. He was born in 1947 in Moscow but spent his childhood and youth in Perm. It was Perm where he graduated from the University and published his first books. In 1970-1972, Yuzefovich served as an officer in Transbaikalia and from there he brought back his interest to Mongolia and Buddhism. For many years he worked as a history teacher at a school. Having PhD in History, Yuzefovich is an author of numerous scientific works on Russian and Mongolian history. As a writer, he published such novels as «Prince of the Wind», «Kazaroza», «Cranes and Pygmies» etc., and several historical books – «The Sovereign of the Desert», «Winter Road» etc. Yuzefovich is the winner of literary awards Big Book and National Bestseller, and the Clio Award of Russian Historical Society. His books are translated into English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Bulgarian, Polish and Mongolian. Various films were based on Yuzefovich's novels and scripts: The Fall of the Empire (2005), Kazaroza (2006), Oranienbaum. Silver Samurai (2009), Contribution (2016) etc. Leonid Yuzefovich lives in Saint-Petersburg.