Vladimir Markovich Sanin (; 12 December 1928 – 12 March 1983) was a Russian traveler and writer. He wrote numerous books on his travels, as well as some humorous stories. He devoted most of his work to the
Antarctic
The Antarctic ( or , American English also or ; commonly ) is a polar region around Earth's South Pole, opposite the Arctic region around the North Pole. The Antarctic comprises the continent of Antarctica, the Kerguelen Plateau and other ...
.
Vladimir Sanin was born in
Babruysk
Babruysk, Babrujsk or Bobruisk ( be, Бабруйск , Łacinka: , rus, Бобруйск, Bobrujsk, bɐˈbruɪ̯s̪k, yi, באָברויסק ) is a city in the Mogilev Region of eastern Belarus on the Berezina River. , its population was 209 ...
(
Belarus
Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...
). As a young man, he fought in
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. After the war, he graduated with an economics degree from
Moscow State University
M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU; russian: Московский государственный университет имени М. В. Ломоносова) is a public research university in Moscow, Russia and the most prestigious ...
in 1961. He worked in several firms as an economist and taught political economics.
His forays into writing started with humorous documentary short stories about his travels across 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 ...
. During his travels in the north of the country, Sanin met with several polar explorers whose travails caught his imagination. He joined several polar expeditions, including living on the
drifting ice-floe "North Pole-15". Sanin wrote a series of books about people who live and explore the Arctic and the Antarctic (''72 Degrees Below Zero'', ''Newbie in the Antarctic'', ''Don't say goodbye to the Arctic'', ''On top of the Earth''). Some of these books were made into movies.
Sanin's writing explores the ethical and interpersonal issues of people in extreme situations with humor and affection. In addition to the polar explorers, his heroes include firefighters, pilots, captains, and avalanche rescuers.
Russian travel writers
Russian male short story writers
Russian and Soviet polar explorers
Russian explorers
1928 births
1989 deaths
{{Russia-writer-stub