Writer. He was a prolific Russian author best known for his novels critical of the Soviet system. He began his career writing for the Yunost (Youth) magazine in the 1950s and his first novel, “The Colleagues,” was published in 1959. In 1970s, Aksyonov with several other writers set up their own journal called Metropol, but it was blocked from publishing causing Aksyonov being expelled from Soviet Union citizenship. Relocating to the United States in 1980, he continued his writing and taught Russian literature at American universities. In the West, he wrote more than 20 novels which included “Oranges from Morocco”, “The Island of Crimea”, “The Burn” and “Generations of Winter, The Moscow Saga”. After the Soviet Union’s breakup, he was reinstated as a citizen and received the Russian Booker Prize in 2004 for his novel “Voltairiens and Voltairiennes”. He died from complications of a stroke. (bio by: John “J-Cat” Griffith)