Anna Alfredovna Starobinets (Russian:Анна Старобинец, born 1978) is a Russian writer and scriptwriter who has been called the "Russian Queen of Horror".[1] She has published novels, short stories and children's books, and describes herself as writing "horror and supernatural fiction for adults, and also fairy and detective stories for children".[2]
Starobinets was born in Moscow in 1978.[3] Her husband, writer Alexander Garros, died in 2017, after which she had "writer's block" for 18 months. She has two children, and a poodle.[1]
She has said that her favourite book is Neil Gaiman's American Gods.[4]
Starobinets' first published work, the short story collection An Awkward Age (2010), was a finalist in the Russian National Bestseller Prize. It comprises "chilling short stories set in the streets of Moscow and various creepy parallel worlds", and has been translated into seven languages.[1][3] It has been described as "one of the most stunning debuts to come out of Russia since Victor Pelevin: hip, funny, angry, and dark as hell"[4] and as "an insightful take on the contemporary condition of man—in Russia and further afield".[5]
Catlantis (2015) was her first children's book to be translated into English, and was listed in The Telegraph's 2015 "Best Christmas books for children"[6] and described by The Guardian as "a madcap and highly original adventure".[7] It was translated by Jane Bugaeva, who also translated In the Wolf's Lair.[8]
Starobinets describes Look At Him (2017) as an "autobiographical non-fiction novel about the loss of an unborn baby in Russia".[9] She has written a four-book children's series The Beastly Crimes books, which have been published in English as In the Wolf's Lair (2018), A Predator's Rights (2019), Claws of Rage (2019) and The Plucker (2019).
Her book Lis'i Brody(Russian: Лисьи броды, lit. 'Fox Fords') was called "one of the best novels of 2022" by Mir Fantastiki.[10]
Starobinets was awarded the European SF Award in the category of "Hall of Fame: Best Author" in 2018.[11][12]
