Sasha Sokolov — writer with roots in the USSR
Sasha Sokolov is a Russian-Canadian novelist born in Ottawa (his parents were Soviet intelligence officers) who defected from the USSR in 1975 by swimming across the Kur River into Austria wearing a wetsuit. His novel A School for Fools (1976) — praised by Nabokov as an enchanting, tragic, and touching book — is one of the great works of Russian literature.
Tracing the roots — Ottawa (Moved to USSR)
Born in Ottawa in 1943 to Soviet spy parents who were stationed there as intelligence officers, Sokolov grew up in Moscow and joined the Soviet underground literary scene. His escape from the USSR — swimming a river in a wetsuit — and his subsequent career writing some of the most lyrical and experimental Russian prose of the 20th century make him one of the most singular figures in this database.
Ottawa (Moved to USSR). At the time, this region was one of the fifteen republics of the Soviet Union.
A career defined by ambition
"Language is my homeland. I carry it wherever I go."