My Story – who I am

I was born in Russia in 1963 but left the country at the age of six. I grew up in Montevideo, Uruguay in the home of my maternal grandparents, Russian émigrés from Harbin, China who had later also lived in Russia for a few years before they left that country as well. They left together with me, while my paternal family stayed behind. They weren’t rolling stones, like my maternal line. The family’s separation has of course marked me deeply.

From the age of seven, I started living in three worlds simultaneously: the Russian emigre nostalgic world headed by my grandparents and filled with their stories, my own memories of Russia and the real Uruguayan world where I had my circle of friends and my studies. Living like this was intense and not always easy, but I was lucky to be born with deep love of literature. Reading was my refuge whenever I was too tired of the versatility that life’s circumstances imposed, and it never disappointed me.

I spent many years educating myself in humanities and languages and had many creative interests. Apart from my two mother tongues – Russian and Spanish – I’m proficient in English, French and Danish with good reading ability in Italian and Portuguese. I enjoy reading literary texts in all these languages. My other big interest is history and, over the years, I undertook extensive research to learn more about my roots in every sense of the word.

From early childhood, written word fascinated me. I started writing first poetry in Russian and later prose, both in Russian and Spanish. My grandmother Olga was a driving force in developing my love of both reading and writing. She also insisted that I should learn English and know it well.

In my late twenties, with my family’s strong support I self-published two poetry collections in Russian: “Traveller” and “Return” in 1990-93. This time coincided with the period of my first visits to Russia after I had left, and a reunion with paternal grandparents. It was a highly emotion charged time in my life. It was the first time as well that I came into contact with Russians in Russia, who were also readers of my poetry. It was an incredible experience to receive fan mail, some of it from people living in distant corners of the country, even as far as Kamchatka.

My life in Europe started in 1985 with a few unforgettable months in Paris. In there I lived under the kind tutelage of late Princess Zinaida Shakhovskhoy (Shakhovskhaya), a recognized French author and journalist, who was known to my grandparents. The Princess, a woman of an amazingly sharp mind and high personal courage, was a shining inspiration in both my personal and artistic endeavours. After that I went on to stay in Geneva, Switzerland, for two years before moving to Denmark for personal reasons in 1988. I liked the country so much that I decided to stay on. Here I started a family of my own.

In parallel to my artistic interests I had a long and rewarding international career with the United Nations, culminating in my role as a human resources specialist at the World Health Organization.

At this point in time I’m fully dedicated to writing.

I can be reached at my email address elego@live.dk