★ A “family emotions archive” co-authored by 17 leading figures in Russian literature.
★ Seventeen writers—including novelists, poets, scholars, and directors—each contribute a short story or essay on the theme of “family,” focusing on parents, children, ancestors, family traditions, and intimate relationships.
★ Each story is like a letter from a family archive, capturing the warmth of亲情, memory, and home. The heartfelt, deeply moving content resonates powerfully with readers.
★ Through the pens of literary giants such as Evgeny Vodolazkin and Tatyana Tolstaya, readers gain an intimate glimpse into their private emotions as children, parents, or siblings—a vivid record of human experience beneath the literary spotlight.
★ Colorful illustrations by Sasha Nikolayenko, winner of the Russian Booker Prize and the Snagaya Polyana Literary Award and also an accomplished illustrator, bring visual warmth to the text.
★ In an age dominated by individualism, this book reexamines the significance of “family” as both an anchor for life and an emotional universe, inviting readers to see themselves reflected in others’ stories and rediscover the tender, often overlooked moments of love that enrich our everyday lives.
★ Ideal for readers who enjoy literary short stories, cherish family bonds, seek connection and healing, and perfect as a thoughtful gift for the holidays.

This is a collection of stories that focuses on the intimate whispers of everyday life, exploring themes of family, memory, the warmth of home, and the loved ones who mean the most to us.
Seventeen renowned contemporary writers have contributed to this book, including Evgeny Vodolazkin, Tatyana Tolstaya, Emir Kusturica, Alexey Varlamov, Denis Dragunsky, Dmitry Danilov, Anna Matveyeva, Sergei Shargunov, Shahri Amirkhanova, Evgenia Nekrasova, Andrey Atsvatsaturov, Elena Korina, Sasha Nikolayenko, Azari Plisetsky, Sati Spivakova, Marina Stepnova, and Tatyana Chernigovskaya.
“Family Circumstances” brings together short stories and essays by these contemporary authors, each one dedicated to their closest loved ones. The stories celebrate those who quietly offer care and love in their own unique ways—parents and children, grandparents, lifelong friends, and even “special adversaries.” It is these people who come together to shape the one-of-a-kind individuals we are. Each story feels like a letter from the family archive, recounting tales of parents, children, and family traditions, as well as the small, cherished words and precious memories that carry the warmth of generations. This book invites readers to return to the very source of life and reminds us: don’t forget to call your family and tell them, “I love you.”
As the New Year approaches, the authors of this book invite readers to step into a rich tapestry of “family scenes” and, through these stories, to rediscover a simple yet profound truth: home is the most precious thing in life. Colorful illustrations by Sasha Nikolayenko accompany each story, making this book an ideal gift for the New Year.

**Evgeny Germanovich Vodolazkin**
A novelist, philologist, and expert in Old Russian literature, he has won the Big Book Award and the Yasnaya Polyana Literary Prize, and has been shortlisted for the Russian Booker Prize. He is the author of best-selling novels such as “Brisbane,” “The Pilot,” and “Lavr,” as well as the acclaimed historical novel “Solovyov and Larionov.” His novel “Lavr,” which draws on the life of a medieval physician, became a major literary event in 2013, earning the Yasnaya Polyana Literary Prize and the Big Book Award, and making the shortlists for the National Bestseller Prize and the Russian Booker Prize. This work demonstrates that “pure literature” can also win the affection of readers from diverse backgrounds, and his works have been translated into multiple foreign languages.

**Anna Matveyeva**
A renowned writer, she has been shortlisted for the National Bestseller Prize, the Big Book Award, and the Yasnaya Polyana Literary Prize, and has won several prestigious literary awards, including the Belkin Literary Prize in 2001 for her novella “Dyatlov Pass,” the Starry Sky Literary Prize in 2004 for her short story “St. Helena Island,” and the Yuri Kazakov Literary Prize and the Bazhov Literary Prize in 2011 for her novella “The Circumstances of Time.” She was also the author of the text for the 2024 All-Russian Dictation Contest. Since the mid-1990s, she has published her works, with short stories appearing in many well-known literary journals, including Novy Mir, Zvezda, Friendship of Nations, Oktyabr, Znamya, and Ural. Her representative novella “Dyatlov Pass,” based on real events, tells the story of a mysterious tragedy involving a mountaineering team in the Northern Urals; the work has been adapted into a television series of the same name. In addition, she has written the novels “At Your Service!,” “Vera Stenina’s Envy,” and “Every Hundred Years,” as well as several collections of short stories, including “Come Back to Me After I’m Gone,” “City Dwellers,” “Katya Goes to Sochi,” and “Almastan.”

**Elena Korina**
A Russian writer who has gained wide recognition both at home and abroad, her works are hailed as “high-quality pure literature.” She possesses a distinctive worldview, excels at devising innovative narrative themes, favors unique creative subjects, creates vivid and three-dimensional characters, and writes with a lively, playful style that exudes subtle humor. Elena Korina’s literary art builds a bridge for understanding others and gaining insight into life. To date, she has published 25 works, many of which have been adapted into films and television shows, with total book sales exceeding 500,000 copies. Her works have been translated into German, Polish, Lithuanian, Bulgarian, Turkish, and other languages.

**Dmitry Alekseyevich Danilov**
A novelist, poet, and playwright, he has won the Andrei Bely Literary Prize (for fiction) for plays such as “The Man from Podolsk” and “Seryozha Is Too Stupid,” and the Moscow Art Prize (for literature) for the play collection “The Man from Podolsk.” His novel “The Laid-Back Life” was shortlisted for the Big Book Award and the New Literature Observer Prize. His works have been translated into English, German, French, Italian, Dutch, and other languages. The play “The Man from Podolsk,” staged by the Documentary Theatre, won the Golden Mask Award (Best Playwright) in 2018 and was adapted into a film of the same name in 2020.

**Andrey Alekseyevich Atsvatsaturov**
A well-known St. Petersburg writer, philologist, literary critic, lecturer, associate professor at St. Petersburg State University, and member of the St. Petersburg Writers’ Union. He is the author of the novels “Naked People,” “Skunk Camera,” and “Autumn in My Pocket,” as well as the literary criticism collection “More Than Salinger: Ten Interpretations of Anglo-American Literature.” He has received the New Literature Observer Prize, the TOP-50 Literature Prize, and the St. Petersburg Celebrity Prize, and has been shortlisted for the National Bestseller Prize. His works have been translated into English, Finnish, Italian, and Hungarian.

**Denis Viktorovich Dragunsky**
A novelist, journalist, and well-known blogger, he specializes in writing concise, fast-paced short stories, typically no longer than two pages or a single blog post. He is the author of the novel “A Matter of Principle,” as well as several collections of short stories, including “Scenery from the Bridge,” “Stone Heart,” “Window Overlooking the Courtyard,” “Peeping and Plundering,” “The Boy, the Uncle, and I,” “Adults,” and “Five Minutes of Farewell.”

**Evgeniya Igorevna Nekrasova**
A writer, she is the author of the novel “Kalechkin-Malechkin” and the essay collection “To My Sister: To Those Who Struggle in Life,” and is also a co-founder and lecturer at the Modern Literature Practice School (Shaninka). Born in 1985 in Astrakhan Oblast, she grew up in Moscow Oblast and now lives in Moscow, having graduated from the Moscow New Film Academy. Her works have appeared in core literary journals such as Znamya, Novy Mir, Ural, Volga, and Kinematograficheskoye Iskusstvo. Her 2017 collection of short stories, “Unfortunate Moscow,” was shortlisted for the Licey Literary Prize; her 2018 novel “Kalechkin-Malechkin” was shortlisted for the 2018 New Literature Observer Prize, the 2019 National Bestseller Prize, and the 2019 Big Book Award; and her essay collection “To My Sister” was longlisted for the Yasnaya Polyana Literary Prize, the National Bestseller Prize, and the Fiction 35 Strong Literature Prize. Her work blends folk elements, fantasy, contemporary life scenes, and social issues, and she describes herself as a “social magical realist writer,” skillfully weaving folk mythological motifs into her narrative language.

**Tatyana Vladimirovna Chernigovskaya**
A prominent Russian biologist and linguist, an expert in neuroscience and psycholinguistics, she holds a PhD in biology and a PhD in linguistics, and is a corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Education. She has been awarded the titles of “Honored Worker of Higher Education of the Russian Federation” and “Honored Scientist of the Russian Federation,” and serves as a professor at St. Petersburg State University. At her initiative, St. Petersburg State University first established a specialization in “Psycholinguistics.”

**Marina Lvovna Stepnova**
Born in 1971 in Yefremov, Tula Oblast, she graduated from the Translation Department of the Gorky Literary Institute and later completed her postdoctoral research at the Gorky World Literature Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences. She is the author of the novels “The Garden,” “The Women of the Lazar Family,” “The Surgeon,” and “Godless Lane,” as well as the short story collection “Outskirts of Grosseto.” Among these, “The Women of the Lazar Family” is the most influential, receiving widespread acclaim both in Russia and abroad. It won the Big Book Award and was shortlisted for the Russian Booker Prize, the Yasnaya Polyana Literary Prize, and the National Bestseller Prize.

**Aleksey Nikolaevich Varlamov**
Born in Moscow in 1963, he is a writer and candidate of philological sciences, and the author of numerous works, including “The House of Ostozhye” (1990), “Hello, Duke!” (1993), “Birth” (1995), and “The Pilgrim” (1997). He has received the Leipzig Artistic Creation Literary Club Prize (for the best Russian-language short story) in 1995, the Anti-Booker Literary Prize in 1995, the Oktyabr Magazine Literary Prize in 1995 and 1997, the Moscow Railway Gazette Literary Prize in 1997, and the Novel Newspaper Publishing House Literary Prize in 1998.

**Tatyana Nikitichna Tolstaya**
A novelist, essayist, and television presenter (host of the show “School of Sharp Tongues”), she has won the Triumph Literary Prize and the Belkin Literary Prize (for the short story collection “The Light World”). She is the author of the novel “Wild Cat Spirit” and several collections of short stories, including “A Little Sit on the Golden Porch,” “Day and Night,” “Raisins,” “The Light World,” “The Invisible Girl,” “Golden Age,” and “The Wool Era.”

Ruslan Alisultanov, Foreword by Proxy
Tatyana Chernigovskaya, “How Wonderful That Humanity Invented Home…”
Evgeny Vodolazkin, “The Fourth Attribute of True Love”
Emir Kusturica, “Tonight, My Heart Is Crying…”
Sasha Nikolayenko, “A Puppy Full of Love”
Elena Korina, “Favored Child and Beloved Treasure”
Sergei Shargunov, “The Eternal Day”
Anna Matveyeva, “Grace”
Shakhri Amirkhanova, “The Story of a Postcard”
Evgenia Nekrasova, “The Little Monster”
Marina Stepnova, “Grandmother”
Denis Dragunsky, “The Everyday and the Festive in Cartwright Lane”
Sati Spivakova, “Gilded Silver Splendor”
Andrey Atsvatsaturov, “Memories of Zhirmonsky: Fifty Years Later”
Dmitry Danilov, “God Blesses All Things”
Azari Plisetsky, “The Eyelash That Changed Fate”
Aleksey Varlamov, “The Little Glutton”
Tatyana Tolstaya, “The Little Devil”