Nikolay Kononov
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Nikolay Kononov (, 24 August 1980,
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 ...
) is a Russian writer and journalist. He served as editor-in-chief of '' The Firm's Secret'' (2014–2017) and its editorial director until 2018. He is the author of four books: ''Deux Sine Machina: Stories of 20 crazy persons who made business in Russia from scratch'' (2011), ''Durov's Code. The real story of the social network "VKontakte" and its Creator'' (2012), ''The Uprising'' (2019), and ''The Night We Disappeared'' (2022).


Biography


Media career

Nikolay Kononov graduated in 2002 from the Faculty of Journalism at
Moscow State University Moscow State University (MSU), officially M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University,. is a public university, public research university in Moscow, Russia. The university includes 15 research institutes, 43 faculties, more than 300 departments, a ...
, specializing in literary and art criticism. He also studied political philosophy in a joint program of Shaninka and the
University of Manchester The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The University of Manchester is c ...
. He began his journalism career with newspapers ''
Izvestia ''Izvestia'' ( rus, Известия, r=Izvestiya, p=ɪzˈvʲesʲtʲɪjə, "The News") is a daily broadsheet newspaper in Russia. Founded in February 1917, ''Izvestia'', which covered foreign relations, was the organ of the Supreme Soviet of th ...
'' and ''Stolichnaya Vechernyaya'', then served as a senior reporter of ''
Expert An expert is somebody who has a broad and deep understanding and competence in terms of knowledge, skill and experience through practice and education in a particular field or area of study. Informally, an expert is someone widely recognized ...
'' (2004–2005). In 2005, Kononov joined ''
Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...
Russia'' as a columnist and editor. Between 2010 and 2011, he worked as a senior editor at ''Slon.ru'', and later returned to ''Forbes'' to launch its digital platform, ''Forbes.ru''. His reporting included profiles of outstanding entrepreneurs and investigative journalism, covering topics such as oligarchs' ties to the
Kremlin The Moscow Kremlin (also the Kremlin) is a fortified complex in Moscow, Russia. Located in the centre of the country's capital city, the Moscow Kremlin (fortification), Kremlin comprises five palaces, four cathedrals, and the enclosing Mosco ...
, coal mine explosions in Kuzbass, the future of Siberia's oil industry, etc. From 2012 to 2015, Kononov was editor-in-chief of ''Hopes&Fears'', a daily online publication focused on young entrepreneurs. After its merger with ''The Village'', he became editorial director at ''Look At Media''. In 2013, he published a op-ed titled "The Shiver" in '' Seans'' magazine, addressing Moscow's anti-Putin protests. In 2014, he also taught writing workshops. In 2015, Kononov joined '' The Firm's Secret'' as editor-in-chief along with several former colleagues from ''Hopes&Fears''. His departure from ''Look At Media'' was influenced by management decisions, including merging ''Hopes&Fears'' with ''The Village'' and closing popular business projects that had attracted 800,000 monthly unique visitors. By 2017, financial difficulties led to staff cuts at ''The Firm's Secret'', though Kononov remained as editorial director until late 2018, after which he pursued independent projects and teaching journalism and literature. In 2019, Kononov relocated to
Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
with his family, where he pursued writing full-time. From 2022 until autumn 2023, he served as editor-in-chief of ''Teplitsa Social Technologies'' (Greenhouse of Social Technologies), expanding its coverage to political and art activism. In April 2023, the NGO was designated a
foreign agent A foreign agent is any person or entity actively carrying out the interests of a foreign principal while located in another host country, generally outside the Diplomatic immunity, protections offered to those working in their official capacity fo ...
by Russian authorities, listing Kononov among affiliated individuals. Kononov has contributed to ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'', '' Colta.ru'', '' Republic.ru'', ''
Quartz Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica (silicon dioxide). The Atom, atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon–oxygen Tetrahedral molecular geometry, tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tet ...
'', and written about the
Russo-Ukrainian war The Russo-Ukrainian War began in February 2014 and is ongoing. Following Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity, Russia Russian occupation of Crimea, occupied and Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, annexed Crimea from Ukraine. It then ...
for ''
Neue Zürcher Zeitung The (''NZZ''; "New Newspaper of Zurich") is German language daily newspaper, published by NZZ Mediengruppe in Zurich. The paper was founded in 1780. It has a reputation as a high-quality newspaper, as the German Swiss newspaper of record ...
'' and ''
Le Temps ' (, ) is a Swiss French-language daily newspaper published in Berliner format in Geneva by Le Temps SA. The paper was launched in 1998, formed out of the merger of two other newspapers, and (the former being a merger of two other papers), ...
''. He headed the ''Trigger'' project at ''
Deutsche Welle (; "German Wave"), commonly shortened to DW (), is a German state-funded television network, state-owned international broadcaster funded by the Federal Government of Germany. The service is available in 32 languages. DW's satellite tele ...
s Russian Service, analyzing global political trends, and lectured at Jan Michalski Foundation and the literary project ''Order of Words''.


Literary career

Nikolay Kononov published his first short story, ''Specificus and Dieffenbach'', in 2003 under the pseudonym Grigory Mikhailov, appearing in the almanac '. His second story, ''Islands, Dreams,'' opened the March 2009 issue of ''Text Only'' literary magazine. In 2011, he published his first book ''Deux Sine Machina: The Stories of 20 Crazy persons who Built Business from Scratch in Russia''. The following year, he published ''Durov’s Code. The Real Story of the Social Network VKontakte and Its Creator''. In March 2014, the New York Times featured Kononov's op-ed reviewing the developments surrounding
Pavel Durov Pavel Valeryevich Durov (; born 10 October 1984) is a technology entrepreneur best known as the founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Telegram (software), Telegram, a messaging platform launched in 2013. Durov was born in Russia, where h ...
and his social network ''
VKontakte (short for its original name ''VKontakte''; , meaning ''InContact'') is a Russian online social media and social networking service based in Saint Petersburg. VK is available in multiple languages but it is predominantly used by Russian speake ...
''. Film adaptation rights to ''Durov’s Code'' were acquired by Alexander Rodnyansky's AR Films in 2012, but the initially planned 2014 premiere was postponed. In 2021, ''Non-Stop Production'' and '' Okko'' announced plans to adapt the book. In 2017, Kononov published his third book, ''Author, Scissors, Paper: How to Write Impressive Texts Quickly. 14 Lessons'', a practical guide on writing techniques, primarily for novice journalists. In 2021, he released ''I am Editor: A Desk Book for Everyone Working in Media'', a manual for online media editors. Kononov's debut novel, ''The Uprising'' was published in 2019. It's based on personal and archival documents, exploring the 1953 prisoner revolt at the Norilsk labor camp and the role played by . ''The Uprising'' as later translated into French and published in
Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...
(
La Révolte
'). His second novel, ''The Night We Disappeared'', was published in 2022 by '. The story delves into the experiences of displaced people during
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
and the fate of stateless individuals. Although Kononov mentioned that he had written the book long before the
Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...
, the publisher faced threats and criticism due to Kononov's political positions. In 2025, Kononov's short story ''The Fugitive'' appeared in an anti-war anthology ''Nein!'' published by the Hamburg-based ''
Rowohlt Verlag Rowohlt Verlag is a German publishing house based in Hamburg, with offices in Reinbek and Berlin. It has been part of the Georg von Holtzbrinck Group since 1982. The company has been dissolved and restarted twice since its creation in 1908. Hi ...
''.


Awards

;Journalism awards * 2017 — independent journalist award
Redkollegia ''Redkollegia'' () is an independent media award established by the Sreda Foundation headed by Boris Zimin to support free professional journalism in Russia. In 2015, after the Sreda Foundation was closed, charitable activities of Boris Zimin ar ...
for a best story in Russian for multimedia longread ''Archipelago FSIN: How does Russian prison system work''. *2014 — Piatigorsky Philosophical Prize, nomination. *2015 — "Journalist of the Year" in the '' GQ Man of the Year'' 2015 award *2015 —
PwC PricewaterhouseCoopers, also known as PwC, is a Multinational corporation, multinational professional services network based in London, United Kingdom. It is the second-largest professional services network in the world and is one of the Big Fo ...
media rating among the best in the "Online Media" category. *2022 — scholarship from the Berlin Senate Department of Culture as a foreign author. ;Literary awards *2012 — NOS Award, shortlist, ''Deux Sine Machina: The Stories of 20 Crazy Persons Who Made Business in Russia From Scratch''. *2013 — the
Runet Prize Runet Prize () is a national award of the Russian Federation. Its founder is the Federal Agency for Press and Mass Media, the Russian governmental agency in charge of overseeing the country's mass media. First awarded in 2004, the prize honor ...
, shortlist, ''The Durov's Code'' *2020 — NOS Award, shortlist, ''The Uprising'' At various times, his works have been longlisted for awards such as the National Bestseller (2014, 2019),
Yasnaya Polyana Yasnaya Polyana ( rus, Я́сная Поля́на, p=ˈjasnəjə pɐˈlʲanə, ) is a writer's house museum, the former home of the writer Leo Tolstoy.#Bartlett, Bartlett, p. 25 It is southwest of Tula, Russia, Tula, Russia, and from Moscow. ...
(2019), Big Book (2019), and NOS (2014).


Books

* * * * *


References


External links


Literatur Port
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kononov, Nikolay 1980 births Living people Russian male journalists Russian male writers Online journalists Journalists from Moscow Redkollegia award winners