Orlando Figes

Orlando Figes is the author of A People's Tragedy, Natasha's Dance, and The Crimean War, among other books. His works have been translated into twenty-seven languages. A professor of history at Birkbeck, University of London and a frequent contributor to The New York Review of Books, Figes is the recipient of the Wolfson History Prize, the W. H. Smith Literary Award, and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. He lives in London.
Where are you from?
London
Who are your favorite writers?
Shakespeare, Tolstoy, Chekhov, Orwell, Roth.
What are your hobbies and outside interests?
Music, Italy, Wine, Soccer
What is the single best piece of advice anyone ever gave you?
Not to compare yourself to others.
What is your favorite quote?
I sent the club a wire stating, PLEASE ACCEPT MY RESIGNATION. I DON'T WANT TO BELONG TO ANY CLUB THAT WILL ACCEPT ME AS A MEMBER. (Groucho Marx)
What is the question most commonly asked by your readers? What is the answer?
Would I ever write a novel? No.
What inspired you to write your first book?
Needing an academic job.
Where do you write?
At home in my office in Cambridge or in my London flat.
The Europeans
Orlando Figes
Picador
Picador
From the “master of historical narrative” (Financial Times), a dazzling, richly detailed, panoramic work—the first to document the genesis of a continent-wide European culture.
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Revolutionary Russia, 1891-1991
Orlando Figes
Picador
Picador
AN ORIGINAL READING OF THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION, EXAMINING IT NOT AS A SINGLE EVENT BUT AS A HUNDRED-YEAR CYCLE OF VIOLENCE IN PURSUIT OF UTOPIAN DREAMS
In this elegant and incisive account,...
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Just Send Me Word
Orlando Figes
Henry Holt and Co.
Metropolitan Books
A heroic love story and an unprecedented inside view of one of Stalin's most notorious labor camps, based on a remarkable cache of letters smuggled in and out of the Gulag
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The Crimean War
Orlando Figes
Picador
Picador
From "the great storyteller of modern Russian historians" (Financial Times) comes the definitive account of the forgotten war that shaped the modern age.
The...
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The Whisperers
Orlando Figes
Picador
Picador
A New York Times Notable Book of 2007
"A tremendous achievement."--The Sunday Times (London)
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Natasha's Dance
Orlando Figes
Picador
Picador
Beginning in the eighteenth century with the building of St. Petersburg and culminating with the Soviet regime, Figes examines how writers, artists, and musicians grappled with the idea of Russia...
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