author
Nicholas Kalashnikoff
1888–1961
A Siberian-born writer who turned revolution, exile, and emigration into vivid fiction and memoir. His books draw on hard-lived experience, bringing Russian history and frontier life to the page with unusual immediacy.
1 Audiobook
The defender
by Nicholas Kalashnikoff
About the author
Born in Siberia in 1888, Nicholas Kalashnikoff later became a Siberian-American author whose life seems almost as dramatic as his novels. Sources agree that he took part in the 1905 Russian Revolution, spent years in political exile, and moved to the United States in 1924.
That background shaped much of his writing. He published from the late 1930s into the 1950s, and his work often drew on the upheavals of Russia and the toughness of Siberian life. His first major book, They That Take the Sword (1939), is closely connected to his own experiences, and he went on to write both adult fiction and children's books.
Kalashnikoff became an American citizen after leaving Russia, and his career reflects a striking bridge between worlds: imperial Russia, revolution and displacement, and a later life in America. For listeners, that gives his stories an added pull—they come from someone who had seen history at close range.