The Maxim Gorky Literature Institute () is an institution of higher education in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

, Russia. It is located at 25

Tverskoy Boulevard Tverskoy Boulevard () is one of the main thoroughfares in central Moscow. It is a part of the Boulevard Ring and begins at the end of the Nikitsky Boulevard, at the crossing with Bolshaya Nikitskaya Street. The boulevard ends at the Pushkin Squ ...

in central Moscow.

History

The institute was founded in 1933 on the initiative of

Maxim Gorky Alexei Maximovich Peshkov (; – 18 June 1936), popularly known as Maxim Gorky (; ), was a Russian and Soviet writer and proponent of socialism. He was nominated five times for the Nobel Prize in Literature. Before his success as an aut ...

, a writer, founder of the socialist realism literary method, and a political activist. It received its current name at Gorky's death in 1936. The institute has been at the same location, not far from

Pushkin Square Pushkinskaya Square or Pushkin Square () is a pedestrian open space in the Tverskoy District in central Moscow. Historically, it was known as Strastnaya Square () before being renamed for Alexander Pushkin in 1937. It is located at the juncti ...

, for more than seventy years, in a complex of historic buildings dating back to the 18th and 19th centuries. The main building at 25

was the birthplace of

Alexander Herzen Alexander Ivanovich Herzen (; ) was a Russian writer and thinker known as the precursor of Russian socialism and one of the main precursors of agrarian populism (being an ideological ancestor of the Narodniki, Socialist-Revolutionaries, Trudo ...

and frequented by well-known writers of the 19th century, including

Nikolai Gogol Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol; ; (; () was a Russian novelist, short story writer, and playwright of Ukrainian origin. Gogol used the Grotesque#In literature, grotesque in his writings, for example, in his works "The Nose (Gogol short story), ...

Vissarion Belinsky Vissarion Grigoryevich Belinsky (; Pre-reform spelling: Виссаріонъ Григорьевичъ Бѣлинскій. – ) was a Russian literary critic of Westernizing tendency. Belinsky played one of the key roles in the career of p ...

, Pyotr Chaadayev,

Aleksey Khomyakov Aleksey Stepanovich Khomyakov (; – ) was a Russian theologian, philosopher, poet and amateur artist. He co-founded the Slavophile movement along with Ivan Kireyevsky, and he became one of its most distinguished theoreticians. His son Nikol ...

, and Yevgeny Baratynsky. In the 1920s it housed various writers' organizations and a literary museum. It also provided accommodations for writers, including

Andrei Platonov Andrei Platonovich Platonov ( rus, Андрей Платонович Платонов, , ɐnˈdrʲej plɐˈtonəvʲɪtɕ plɐˈtonəf; []; – 5 January 1951) was a Soviet Russian people, Russian novelist, short story writer, philosopher, play ...

, Vsevolod Ivanov, Osip Mandelstam, and Boris Pasternak. Mikhail Bulgakov used it as the model for "Griboyedov House" in ''

The Master and Margarita ''The Master and Margarita'' () is a novel by Mikhail Bulgakov, written in the Soviet Union between 1928 and 1940. A censored version, with several chapters cut by editors, was published posthumously in ''Moscow (magazine), Moscow'' magazine in ...

''.

Curriculum

The institute's curriculum includes courses in the humanities and social sciences and seminars on a variety of literary genres, including prose, poetry, drama, children's literature, literary criticism, writing for the popular press, and literary translation. It has graduate and doctoral programs and a standing committee for doctoral and candidate dissertation defenses. The institute offers a two-year program of Advanced Literary Courses for highly qualified students, and its Literary Institute oversees an Advanced Literary Translation School, as well as courses in Editing, Copyediting and Foreign Languages. It also has a high school and offers preparatory courses for applicants to the Literary Institute.

Notable alumni

Politics

Maithripala Sirisena Maithripala Yapa Sirisena (; ; born 3 September 1951) is a Sri Lankan politician who served as the seventh president of Sri Lanka from 9 January 2015 to 18 November 2019. Sirisena is Sri Lanka's first president from the North Central Province, S ...

(President of

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

) *

Nambaryn Enkhbayar Nambaryn Enkhbayar (, ; born 1 June 1958) is a Mongolian politician. He served as the Prime Minister of Mongolia from 2000 to 2004, as Chairman of the State Great Khural from 2004 to 2005, and as President of Mongolia from 2005 to 2009. He is ...

(President of

Mongolia Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south and southeast. It covers an area of , with a population of 3.5 million, making it the world's List of countries and dependencies by po ...

2005—2009)

Poets

* Alexander Galich (poet, singer-songwriter) *

Bella Akhmadulina Izabella Akhatovna Akhmadulina (, ; 10 April 1937 – 29 November 2010) was a Soviet Union, Soviet and Russian poet, short story writer, and translator, known for her apolitical writing stance. She was part of the Russian New Wave literary movem ...

(poet) *

Boris Golovin Boris Nikolayevich Golovin ( rus, Бори́с Никола́евич Голови́н, p=bɐˈrʲiz ɡɐˈlovʲɪn, a=Boris Nikolayevich Golovin.ru.vorb.oga; born 26 May 1955) is a New Zealand composer and poet of Russian descent. Education ...

(poet, singer-songwriter) *

Borys Bilash Borys Fedorovich Bilash (; born 1 August 1941) is a Ukrainian writer, poet and politician who is a recipient of the Hero of Ukraine and Order of Merit. Additionally, he was a member of the Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada in 2007 and 2012. Early life ...

(poet, writer) *

Drago Siliqi Drago Siliqi (9 June 1930 – 13 July 1963) was an Albanian poet, literary critic, and publisher. At the age of 14 he became a scout and then a partisan of the National Liberation Movement. He published his first collection of poetry, and then pu ...

(writer, literary critic, publisher) *

Fazu Aliyeva Fazu Aliyeva (5 December 1932 – 1 January 2016) was an Avar-speaking Soviet-born Russian poet, novelist and journalist. She played a significant role in the development of Avar in Russian literature. She was also a human rights activist. ...

(poet) *

Halima Xudoyberdiyeva Halima Xudoyberdiyeva (Cyrillic: Ҳалима Худойбердиева; ; 17 May 1947 – 17 August 2018) was an Uzbek poet whose themes at different times of her career have dealt with Uzbek nationhood and history, liberation movements, and fe ...

(People's Poet of Uzbekistan) *

Hovhannes Shiraz Hovhannes Shiraz (; April 27, 1914 – March 24, 1984) was an Armenians, Armenian poet. Biography Shiraz was born Onik Tadevosi Karapetyan in the city of Alexandropol, then part of the Russian Empire (now Gyumri, Armenia). His mother, Astghik ...

(poet) *

Jabir Novruz Jabir Novruz (born Cabir Mirzəbəy oğlu Novruzov, 12 March 1933 – died 12 December 2002) was an Azerbaijani and Soviet poet, translator, editor, and secretary of the Union of Azerbaijani Writers for three decades. Considered one of the mos ...

(National Poet of

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...

) * Nikolay Rubtsov (poet) * Rasul Gamzatov (poet) *

Yevgeny Yevtushenko Yevgeny Aleksandrovich Yevtushenko (; 18 July 1933 – 1 April 2017) was a Soviet and Russian poet, novelist, essayist, dramatist, screenwriter, publisher, actor, editor, university professor, and director of several films. Biography Early lif ...

(poet, singer-songwriter, novelist, essayist, dramatist, screenwriter) * Yulia Drunina (poet, writer) * Hasab al-Shaikh Ja'far (poet)

Writers

* Anatoli Kim (writer) *

Chinghiz Aitmatov Chinghiz Torekulovich Aitmatov (12 December 1928 – 10 June 2008) was a Kyrgyz author who wrote mainly in Russian, but also in Kyrgyz. He is one of the best known figures in Kyrgyzstan's literature. Life He was born to a Kyrgyz father and Ta ...

(novelist) * Fatmir Gjata (writer, journalist) *

Fazil Iskander Fazil Abdulovich Iskander (6 March 1929 – 31 July 2016) was a Soviet and Russian"There's no doubt I'm a Russian writer who praised Abkhazia a lot. Unfortunately, I haven't written anything in the Abkhaz language. The choice of Russian culture ...

(novelist) * Irina Bogatyryova (writer) *

Ismail Kadare Ismail Kadare (; 28 January 1936 – 1 July 2024) was an Albanian novelist, poet, essayist, screenwriter and playwright. He was a leading international literary figure and intellectual, focusing on poetry until the publication of his first novel ...

(novelist, poet, essayist) * Aigul Kemelbayeva (writer) * Jaroslav Melnik (writer) * Svetlana Vasilenko (writer, poet) *

Konstantin Simonov Konstantin Mikhailovich Simonov, born Kirill Mikhailovich Simonov (, – 28 August 1979), was a Soviet author, war poet, playwright and wartime correspondent,Константин Михайлович Симонов // " Литературна� ...

(writer) *

Maria Alyokhina Maria "Masha" Vladimirovna Alyokhina (; born 6 June 1988) is a Russian political activist. She is a member of the Opposition to Vladimir Putin in Russia, anti-Putinist punk rock group Pussy Riot. Early life and education Maria Vladimirovna Al ...

(writer, musician, activist) *

Maria Arbatova Maria Ivanovna Arbatova (), is a Russian novelist, short story writer, playwright, poet, journalist, talkshow host, politician, and one of Russia's most widely known feminists in the 1990s. When growing up, she was already showing strong controver ...

(writer, feminist, politician) *

Oksana Vasyakina Oksana Yuryevna Vasyakina (; born 18 December 1989) is a Russian poet, artist, curator, and feminist activist. Her work has been the subject of scholarship in both English and Russian. Biography Oksana Vasyakina was born on December 18, 1989, ...

(writer) * Oleg Khafizov (writer) * Oleg Pavlov (writer) *

Vasily Belov Vasily Ivanovich Belov (; 23 October 1932 – 4 December 2012) was a Soviet and Russian writer, poet and dramatist, who published more than sixty books which sold (as of 1998) seven million copies. A prominent member of the influential 1970s–198 ...

(writer) *

Viktor Astafyev Viktor Petrovich Astafyev (; 1 May 1924 – 29 November 2001) was a Soviet and Russian writer, playwright and screenwriter. He was recognized with the title Hero of Socialist Labour in 1989. Biography Viktor Astafyev was born in the village o ...

(novelist) *

Viktor Pelevin Victor Olegovich Pelevin ( rus, Виктор Олегович Пелевин, p=ˈvʲiktər ɐˈlʲeɡəvʲɪtɕ pʲɪˈlʲevʲɪn; born 22 November 1962) is a Russian fiction writer. His novels include ''Omon Ra'' (1992), ''The Life of Insects' ...

(novelist) *

Yuri Bondarev Yuri Vasilyevich Bondarev (, 15 March 1924 — 29 March 2020) was a Soviet and Russian writer and screenwriter. He was best known for co-authoring the script for the serial film franchise ''Liberation'' (1968–71). Biography Bondarev took part ...

(writer) * Yuri Kazakov (writer) * Aleksandr Skorobogatov (writer) *

Yury Trifonov Yury Valentinovich Trifonov (; 28 August 1925 – 28 March 1981) was a leading representative of the so-called Soviet "Urban Prose". He was considered a close contender for the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1981. Childhood and family Trifonov w ...

(writer) * Antonina Koptiaeva (novelist) * Grigory Baklanov (novelist) *

Vladimir Karpov Vladimir Vasilyevich Karpov (; 28 July 1922 – 18 January 2010) was a Soviet soldier, writer of historical novels and public figure. He was awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union for bravery in World War II. Karpov was born in Orenburg, and mo ...

(novelist) * Boris Yampolsky (writer)

Notes

References

*Holquist, Michael. ''Dialogism: Bakhtin and His World'', Second Edition. Routledge, 2002. *Holquist, Michael. “Introduction.” ''Speech Genres and Other Late Essays''. By Mikhail Bakhtin. Eds. Caryl Emerson and Michael Holquist. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1986. ix-xxiii.

External links

* {{coord, 55, 45, 45, N, 37, 36, 08, E, region:RU-MO_type:landmark_source:kolossus-plwiki, display=title Maxim Gorky Literature Institute Universities and institutes established in the Soviet Union Universities and colleges established in 1933 1933 establishments in the Soviet Union Literary education Maxim Gorky