Guzel Yakhina

Yakhina Guzel Shamilyevna is a contemporary Russian writer.

She was born into an educated family living in the very center of Kazan. Her mother worked as a doctor, and her father as an engineer. Guzel, in the end, followed in her grandfathers’ footsteps. One of them went through the entire war; he was not only a German language teacher, but also a man with golden hands, who could bring a simple piece of driftwood to life, turning it into a lifelike little animal. Her other grandfather was an incredible fantasist, constantly delighting his granddaughter with magical fairy tales. Guzel Shamilyevna likes to repeat that you cannot run away from your genes.

So little Guzel first studied at an art school. Her fondest memories are connected with that time, when she helped design exhibitions for her beloved grandfather or spent hours diligently copying paintings from the Museum of Fine Arts.

The next, already adult, stage in Guzel Yakhina’s biography was admission to the Kazan State Pedagogical Institute, where she entered the Faculty of Foreign Languages and successfully graduated. The main turning point was her move to Moscow in 1999. The capital literally became a second home for Guzel, although she also has warm feelings for Kazan.

In Moscow, the young woman discovered her talent in marketing, PR, and advertising, to which she devoted 13 years of her life. She also took her first steps in creative writing. Two short stories by the young author were published in literary journals (before that, the young writer had created only “for the desk drawer”). These were “Moth” and “Rifle,” her first works. But the real breakthrough was the novel Zuleikha Opens Her Eyes.

The writer kept this creation within herself for two years, and it took another eight months to transfer her ideas, emotions, and feelings into written form. The theme was suggested by the story of the writer’s grandmother: “She was seven years old when her family was dispossessed and sent to the Angara. These time boundaries, 1930–1946, are repeated in the novel.”

Numerous attempts to approach various publishing houses ended in failure for Guzel Shamilyevna. No one even wanted to look