Olga Grjasnova — novelist with roots in the USSR
Olga Grjasnowa is a German-language novelist, born on 14 November 1984 in Baku, Azerbaijan SSR. Her debut novel Der Russe ist einer, der Birken liebt (2012; English: All Russians Love Birch Trees) won the Anna Seghers Prize. Her later novels include Die juristische Unschärfe einer Ehe (2014), Gott ist nicht schüchtern (2017; English: City of Jasmine), Der verlorene Sohn (2020) and Juli, August, September (2024). Since 2023 she has been a professor at the University of Applied Arts Vienna.
"Moved from Baku to Hesse, Germany, in 1996 with her family as Jewish quota refugees."
Migration storyTracing the roots — Baku (Azerbaijan SSR)
Born in Baku in the Azerbaijan SSR in 1984 into a Russian-Jewish family, the daughter of a lawyer and a musicologist. In 1996, aged 11, she moved with her family to Hesse, Germany, as Jewish quota refugees.
Baku (Azerbaijan SSR). At the time, this region was one of the fifteen republics of the Soviet Union.