The co-founders of the Yasnaya Polyana Literary Award—the Leo Tolstoy Museum-Estate Yasnaya Polyana and Samsung Electronics—have announced the shortlist for the category “Contemporary Russian Prose,” the main nomination of the award’s 23rd season. It includes six works.
Shortlist for “Contemporary Russian Prose” 2025:
  1. Nadya Alekseeva, Belgrade. Moscow: Elena Shubina Editorial Office, 2024
  2. Sukhbat Aflatuni, Katekhon. Moscow: Elena Shubina Editorial Office, 2024
  3. Ilya Boyashov, The Sober Hussar. St. Petersburg: Limbus Press, 2024
  4. Andrey Dmitriev, The Wind of Troy. Moscow: Elena Shubina Editorial Office, 2024
  5. Ilya Kochergin, Emergency Exit. Moscow: Elena Shubina Editorial Office, 2024
  6. Evgeny Kremchukov, Fayum. Moscow: Alpina. Prose, 2024
“Every year, announcing the shortlist is never easy. It’s always full of doubts and inner torment, because behind every book stands a living author—people we know and respect. But today, with trembling voices, we announced these six works. And I’m sure they deserve to be discussed and debated,” said Vladimir Tolstoy, Chairman of the Yasnaya Polyana Award Jury.
Earlier, the longlist for “Contemporary Russian Prose” included 22 works by modern Russian writers. In total, 179 works were submitted in 2025. The nominators were publishers, literary journals, writers’ unions, and past laureates of the award. Together with the jury, applications were reviewed by graduates of the Valentin Kurbatov School of Literary Criticism at Yasnaya Polyana.

The “Contemporary Russian Prose” category honors a significant work by a contemporary author written in Russian that deeply explores the boundaries of human experience and carries the ideals of humanism. The prize fund for this category is 3 million rubles, with 1 million shared among the shortlisted authors.

The award ceremony will take place in October 2025.