Vladimir Mechislavovich Rybakov (russian: Влади́мир Мечисла́вович Рыбако́в; 1947 – 20 August 2018) was a Russian writer. Vladimir was born to émigré parents in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

in 1947. He lived in the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

1956–1972, including a hitch in the

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, and returned to the West in 1972, since which time he has been a journalist and a novelist with a historical bent. He spent much of the 1980s in

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

, where, among other things, he interviewed Soviet soldiers captured by the Afghans. He spent 1989–1995 in Moscow and spent the last years of his life in

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

, where he completed a huge historical novel about

Genghis Khan ''Chinggis Khaan'' ͡ʃʰiŋɡɪs xaːŋbr />Mongol script: ''Chinggis Qa(gh)an/ Chinggis Khagan'' , birth_name = Temüjin , successor = Tolui (as regent)Ögedei Khan , spouse = , issue = , house = Borjigin , ...

. At the time of his death he was preparing a book on how Eastern and Western civilizations developed. Two of his books, ''The Afghans'', a novella about Soviet soldiers in Afghanistan, and ''Creature'', a geopolitical thriller, have been published recently in English (2004 and 2005, respectively), and ''The Mystery of Genghis Khan'' is being prepared for publication.

English translations

*''The Brand'', Hutchinson, 1986. *''The Burden'', Hutchinson, 1986. *''The Afghans: A Novella of Soviet Soldiers in Afghanistan'', Infinity Publishing, 2004. *''Creature: A French Russian Thriller'', Infinity Publishing, 2005.

References

Russian journalists Russian male novelists 1947 births 2018 deaths {{Russia-writer-stub