Sergei Lebedev

Sergei Lebedev was selected for the 2026 Shortlist with The major crime of USSR was ‘the Soviet occupation of Central and Eastern Europe’.

Sergei Lebedev was born in Moscow in 1981. He is a writer, poet, editor and journalist. He has written six novels and a collection of short stories. Together, they form a meta-text exploring the impact of Soviet totalitarian rule and the resurgence of dictatorship in modern-day Russia. He has also edited several literary anthologies.

Since 2001 Lebedev also worked as a journalist mainly focused on historical and educational issues. He also wrote investigative articles. Currently he is writing commentaries and essays for the different media worldwide. His contributions could be found, inter alia, in the «Neue Züricher Zeitung», «Liberties», «Osteuropa», «Washington Post» and others.

His books have been translated into twenty-four languages and have been shortlisted for major European book prizes.

He has lived in Germany since 2018.