Andrey Kurkov

Andrey Yuryevich Kurkov (Ukrainian: Андрій Юрійович Курков; Russian: Андре́й Ю́рьевич Курко́в; born 23 April 1961, Leningrad, USSR) is a Ukrainian journalist and author. He wrote story books for children while serving in the military and later started writing novels. The KGB funded his study of the Japanese language at Kiev's Foreign Languages Institute with the plan he would do his mandatory service as a Japanese translator. Kurkov paid to have his papers changed (to avoid service with the KGB) and was instead assigned to the military police; he ended up serving his mandatory military service as a prison guard in Odessa.