Yakhina, Guzel Shamilevna

Guzel Yakhina was born in Kazan on June 1, 1977 , in a large family of a doctor and engineer ^{[2] [3]} . The family brought up six children. Until three years old, Guzel spoke only Tatar, she began to speak Russian in kindergarten ^[4] . She studied at the Physics and Mathematics Lyceum No. 131 and the art school. Graduated from Kazan State Pedagogical Institute , faculty of foreign languages; in school years, began to get involved in cinema, study scripts ^[5] .

Since 1999, lives in Moscow ^[6] , worked in the field of PR , advertising, marketing . She graduated from the screenwriting department of the Moscow School of Cinema (2015) ^{[6] [7]} . Published in the magazines "Neva" , "October" . The Siberian Lights magazine published the chapters of her debut novel Zuleikha Opens Her Eyes . After a series of unsuccessful attempts to independently find a publisher for the novel, Yakhina turned to a literary agency. With its help, the book was released and proved successful ^[8] . In 2015, the writer became a laureate of the Big Book National Literary Prize, and her novel was also awarded the Yasnaya Polyana and Book of the Year awards. In December 2015, Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov met with a writer in the Republican Government House and wished her success and interesting stories for new works ^[9] .

According to April 2018, the first novel “Zuleikha opens her eyes” Guzel Yakhina published in 20 foreign languages, also “Zuleikha” was published in Tatar, and the entire prose of the writer has been translated into more than 30 languages ​​of the world ^{[5] [10] [11]} .

In 2018, Guzel Yakhina became the author of “ Total Dictation ”. Three texts for different time zones, called “Morning”, “Day” and “Evening”, were included in the novel “My Children” ^[12] .

June 5, 2019 Guzel Yakhina - finalist of the Big Book Prize ^{[13] [14]} .

Journal publications

• 2014 - the story "Moth" - " Neva " No. 2, 2014.
• 2014 - chapters from the novel “ Zuleikha opens her eyes ” : “Wet Chicken”, “Knock on the Window”, “Ilsiyar and Ilgizar” - “ Siberian Lights ” No. 5, 2014.
• 2015 - the story "Rifle" - " October " No. 5, 2015.
• 2016 - script for reading "Night" - "October" No. 8, 2016.
• 2016 - the story of Schweipolt - Esquire magazine.
• 2018 - the story "Anniversary" - "October" No. 1, 2018.

Editions in Russian

• Zuleikha opens her eyes: a novel. - [Artist: Andrei Rybakov. Foreword Lyudmila Ulitskaya ]. - M .: AST, revised by Elena Shubina, 2015 .-- 508 p. ISBN 978-5-17-090436-5
• Zuleikha opens her eyes: a novel. - [foreword Lyudmila Ulitskaya]. - M .: AST, ed. Elena Shubina, pech. 2016 .-- 508 p. - 10,000 copies. ISBN 978-5-17-090436-5 :
• My children: a novel. - M .: AST, Ed. Elena Shubina, rub. 2018 .-- 496 p. - 60,000 copies. ( Prose Guzel Yakhina ) ISBN 978-5-17-107766-2
• Zuleikha opens her eyes: a novel. - [Art. A. Rybakov. Foreword L. Ulitskaya]. - M .: AST, Ed. Elena Shubina, 2019 .-- 508 p. - 50,000 copies. ( Prose Guzel Yakhina ) ISBN 978-5-17-090436-5

The range of critical assessments of G. Yakhina’s work is quite wide: from definitely positive ^[15] to sharply negative among some Tatar reviewers. For example, the critic Ruslan Aisin praised Yakhina’s novel “ Zuleikha opens her eyes ” as an apology for lack of spirituality and betrayal, because the young hero Yuzuf takes the last name of the man who killed his father, and also because, according to the critic, the real terrible truth about the camps is not shown of that time ^{[16] [17]} . The Tatar public figure and playwright Rabit Batulla opposed Yakhin as a Tatar writer, noting that the characters' characters are far-fetched and implausible, and the description of Tatar life and traditions is not true and is a manifestation of disrespect for the entire Tatar people .

At the same time, Pavel Basinsky described the novel with these words: “Guzel Yakhina’s manner is tough. Short phrases, a minimum of details, nothing more ” ^[18] .

The literary critic Galina Yuzefovich writes that along with the brilliantly written fragments in the text of Guzel Yakhina there were voids barely outlined by a dotted line - this feature is usually attributed to the author’s scenic past ^[19] .

• 2015 - Winner of the Book of the Year Award (Zuleikha opens her eyes)
• 2015 - Laureate of the Yasnaya Polyana Prize, nomination 21st Century (for the novel Zuleikha Opens Her Eyes)
• 2015 - Laureate of the Big Book Award for the novel Zuleikha opens her eyes ^{[20] [21]}
• 2016 - Laureate of the Cyrano Prize, nomination "Best Writer"
• 2017 - Les prix du magazine Transfuge de la rentrée littéraire, France , 2017 ^[22]
• 2017 - Laureate of the “ Reader ’s Award ” (for the novel “Zuleikha opens her eyes”)
• 2018 - Laureate of the “Snob” project award “Made in Russia - 2018” (for the novel “My Children”)
• 2019 - Finalist of the “ Big Book ” award for the novel “My Children” (The results of the National Literary Prize “Big Book” will be announced in December 2019 )

• Guzel Yakhina, a site about creativity
• Guzel Yakhina on Instagram
• Yakhina, Guzel Shamilevna in the " Journal Hall "
• Guzel Yakhina. The Siberian Lights Magazine
• Guzel Yakhina. Russian State Library
• Guzel Yakhina. Russian National Library
• Guzel Yakhina. Library of Congress
• Guzel Yakhina. British library .
• Guzel Yakhina: “I love simple human stories”
• Guzel Yakhina: “I have invested in Zuleyha everything I know about the Tatar woman”
• “A good book is therapy”: Reader biography of writer Guzeli Yakhina
• Basinsky P.V. The Incredible. Obvious
• Izvestia : “Every novel is an experiment”