Nika Georgievna Turbina (russian: Ника Гeopгиeвна Туpбина; 17 December 1974,

Yalta Yalta (: Я́лта) is a resort city on the south coast of the Crimean Peninsula surrounded by the Black Sea. It serves as the administrative center of Yalta Municipality, one of the regions within Crimea. Yalta, along with the rest of Crimea ...

– 11 May 2002,

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

) was a Russian poet. She became famous for her profound and emotional poems which she wrote at an early age. She wrote her first poem at the very young age of four and started writing poetry at the age of six and at the age of 10, her first poetry collection ''First Draft'' was published. She was awarded the

Golden Lion The Golden Lion ( it, Leone d'oro) is the highest prize given to a film at the Venice Film Festival. The prize was introduced in 1949 by the organizing committee and is now regarded as one of the film industry's most prestigious and distinguishe ...

for her poems in 1985. She wrote several poetry collections during her short career.

Biography

Career

She started writing poetry at the age of 6 and published her first book in 1984, at the age of 10. A recording of her recitations sold over 30,000 copies in the then Soviet Union. Turbina wrote her first complete poem at age of 4. Two years later, she was discovered by writer

Yulian Semyonov Yulian Semyonovich Semyonov (russian: link=no, Юлиа́н Семёнович Семёнов, ), pen-name of Yulian Semyonovich Lyandres (russian: link=no, Ля́ндрес) (October 8, 1931 – September 15, 1993), was a Soviet and Russian writ ...

who spent part of the year in her hometown of

. Turbina's talent set her apart from her classmates in school, where she was learning ahead of her grade. She studied the piano and her favorite subject was mathematics, which she saw as akin to verses.Комсомольская Правда. Бабушка Ники Турбиной: «По ночам она шептала стихи. И хотела быть такой, как все…»
/ref> At the age of 10, Turbina published her first book, ''First Draft'', with an introduction by

Yevgeny Yevtushenko Yevgeny Aleksandrovich Yevtushenko ( rus, links=no, 1=Евге́ний Алекса́ндрович Евтуше́нко; 18 July 1933 – 1 April 2017) was a Soviet and Russian poet. He was also a novelist, essayist, dramatist, screenwriter, ...

in 1984. Translations of her ''First Draft'' have been published in France, Italy and Britain.

Death

She died on 11 May 2002 in

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

at the age of 27 after she fell from her 5th floor window. Nika Turbina was buried at

Vagankovo Cemetery Vagankovo Cemetery (russian: Ваганьковское кладбище, Vagan'kovskoye kladbishche), established in 1771, is located in the Presnya district of Moscow. It started in the aftermath of the Moscow plague riot of 1771 outside the cit ...

in Moscow.

Legacy

Turbina was the subject of the movie ''Nika'', a biographical film by director Vasilisa Kuzmina starring Elizaveta Yankovskaya which had its world premiere at the 2022

South by Southwest South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in m ...

festival.

Books

* ''Quaderno di appunti'', 1984. * ''First Draft'', 1988. * ''Stupenʹki vverkh, stupenʹki vniz'' (Steps Upwards, Steps Downwards), 1991. * ''Not To Forget'', 2004. * ''Sono pesi queste mie poesie'', 2008. * ''Nika Turbina,'' 2018.

References

External links

Italian and English translations of her poetry and some official biographical notes

translated by Ljubov V. Kuchkina
Website dedicated to Nika Turbina
on library.ru
Project dedicated to memory of Nika (Russian)

Website (Russian)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Turbina, Nika 1974 births 2002 suicides People from Yalta Ukrainian poets in Russian Child writers Burials at Vagankovo Cemetery Soviet women poets Russian women poets 20th-century Russian poets 21st-century Russian poets Suicides by jumping in Russia Russian-language poets 21st-century Russian women writers 2002 deaths 20th-century Russian women writers