is considered one of the most interesting contemporary writers in his country today. The author of five books, his novel The Life of Ferret was short-listed for Russia's equivalent of the Booker Prize; his latest novel is Vladimir Chigrintsev. Educated at the Moscow State University, Mr. Aleshkovskiy was a scholar at the Kennan Institute for Advanced Russian Studies in Washington, D.C. in 1989 when his program there was interrupted by the breakup of the Soviet Union. He is particularly interested in the American Midwest and the American South (since his novels are set in the Russian provinces), and he'd like to write a book of essays on the American countryside. Two international publications of his work are underway, one in Frankfurt and another in the United States. He is a grantee of the USIA.