Maria Stepanova

Birds Only

At the Institute Maria Stepanova plans to be working on a documentary project dedicated to metamorphosis and identity shifts in nature and human life.

Maria Stepanova (born in Moscow in 1972) is a poet, essayist and editor, the recipient of several Russian and international literary awards, including the Leipzig Book Prize for European Understanding (2023). Her poems have been translated into a number of languages, including English, German, French, Italian, and Swedish. Her documentary novel Pamiati pamiati (In Memory of Memory) came out in Russian in November 2017 and received the Russian Big Book Prize in December 2018. The book was translated into 27 languages, shortlisted for the International Booker Prize and Prix Médicis, and longlisted for the National Book Award. It has also received the French Prix de Meilleur Livre Étranger (2022). Since 2022 Stepanova is based in Berlin.