Zinik Zinoviy

Zinovy Zinik (Zinovy Efimovich Gluzberg) is a Russian writer and critic at the BBC Russian Service.

He was born on 16 June 1945 in Moscow. He studied painting at an art school, mathematics at Moscow University, and attended courses in theatre criticism at the magazine Theatre. He began publishing reviews in 1965. In 1972, he was accused of draft evasion. In 1975, he repatriated to Israel. For two years he worked as director of the Russian theatre studio at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. In 1977 he moved to the United Kingdom at the invitation of the BBC Russian Service. Until the BBC Russian Service ceased broadcasting on radio in March 2011, he co-presented the Sunday editions of the program Fifth Floor from 2009 to 2011, and is the author of its title (“Fifth Floor”). An archive of his essays for Fifth Floor is available on the old version of the BBCRussian.com website in the “Zinovy Zinik’s Column.” He previously served as editor and presenter of the radio review West End. Since the early 1980s, he has contributed to the London weekly The Times Literary Supplement.