Orlando Figes (GBR)

Orlando Figes (/ˈfaɪdʒiːz/; born 20 November 1959) is a prominent British historian and writer best known for his works on Russian history. He is Professor of History at Birkbeck College, University of London.

Figes is known for his works on Russian history, in particular A People's Tragedy (1996), Natasha's Dance (2002), The Whisperers (2007), Crimea (2010) and Just Send Me Word (2012). A People's Tragedy is a study of the Russian Revolution, and combines socialand political history with biographical details in a historical narrative. In 2008 the Times Literary Supplement named A People's Tragedy as one of the 'hundred most influential books since the war'. It was awarded the Wolfson History Prize, the WH Smith Literary Award, the NCR Book Award, the Longman-History Today Book Prize, and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. Natasha's Dance and The Whisperers were both short-listed for the Samuel Johnson Prize, making Figes the only writer to have been short-listed twice for this prize. The Whisperers was also short-listed for the Ondaatje Prize, the Prix Médicis, and the Premio Roma.

Figes serves on the editorial board of the journal Russian History, writes for the international press, broadcasts on television and radio, reviews for the New York Review of Books, and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

Figes is the son of the feminist writer Eva Figes. He attended William Ellis School in north London (1971–78) and studied History at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, graduating with a rare double-starred First in 1982. He completed his PhD at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was a Fellow from 1984 to 1999.

He was a Lecturer in History and Fellow at Trinity College, University of Cambridge from 1987 to 1999, when he succeeded Sir Richard Evans as Professor of History at Birkbeck College, University of London.

Figes is married to the human-rights lawyer Stephanie Palmer, a Senior Lecturer in Law at Cambridge University and Barrister at Blackstone Chambers London. They have two daughters, Lydia and Alice. He lives in London and is a supporter of Chelsea Football Club. His sister is the author and editor Kate Figes.

Works: 

Peasant Russia, Civil War: The Volga Countryside in Revolution, 1917-21, 1989, ISBN 0-19-822169-X
A People's Tragedy: Russian Revolution 1891-1924, London: Jonathan Cape, 1996, ISBN 0-7126-7327-X
With Boris Kolonitskii: Interpreting the Russian Revolution: The Language and Symbols of 1917, 1999, ISBN 0-300-08106-5
Natasha's Dance: A Cultural History of Russia, 2002, ISBN 0-14-029796-0
The Whisperers: Private Life in Stalin's Russia, 2007, ISBN 978-0-8050-7461-1, ISBN 0-8050-7461-9, ISBN 978-0-8050-7461-1, ISBN 0-8050-7461-9
Crimea: The Last Crusade, Allen Lane, 2010. ISBN 978-0-7139-9704-0
Just Send Me Word: A True Story of Love and Survival in the Gulag, Metropolitan Books, 2012. ISBN 978-0-8050-9522-7
Revolutionary Russia, 1891-1991, Metropolitan Books, 2014, ISBN 9780805091311
Revolutionary Russia, 1891-1991, Pelican Books, 2014, ISBN 978-0141043678

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orlando_Figes