About Me

I was born on February 28, 1983. I graduated from the Belarusian National Technical University and worked for several years at the Minsk Automobile Plant as a test engineer specializing in automotive acoustics. In early 2009, I moved to Moscow and radically changed my career path. For a long time, I worked as an editor for popular science magazines: first at What’s New in Science and Technology, and then at Popular Mechanics (russian edition). From 2015 to 2018, I served as editor-in-chief of the website www.popmech.ru, wrote articles for various popular science and geographic publications, and in the autumn of 2018 joined Kaspersky Lab.

Science popularization. In 2014, I was invited to run a popular science lecture series at the Seliger forum. The series was a great success, I enjoyed it, and I decided to make lecturing a regular activity. My lectures cover several areas. First of all, invention, creative thinking, and personal development. I also give biographical lectures, lectures on journalism and PR, kinetic art, cybersecurity, and more. In addition to lectures, I conduct workshops and actively participate in organizing science and technology festivals. In 2017, my first solo popular science book, Invented in Russia, was published. Since then, I have written several more popular science books, was shortlisted for the Enlightener Award, and Invented in Russia has gone through more than ten reprints.

Prose. I began writing prose regularly in 2006. My first published story, Quiet Games, appeared in the September 2008 issue of the magazine Noon. 21st Century, edited by Boris Strugatsky. In March 2010, my debut novel was published. In December 2010, my second novel, The Garden of Hieronymus Bosch, was released and received several literary awards, followed by a third, fourth, fifth novel, and so on. My favorite among my own books is Glass. I am a fairly versatile writer, but I am probably closest to magical realism. I do not write series; all my books are written in different genres and styles—essentially, they are a field for experimentation.

Music. I wrote my first song in 1998, and since 2004 I have been actively touring festivals, repeatedly becoming a laureate and performing solo concerts. In 2008, I recorded a studio album, Iron Heart, at the Siberian Tract studio, but then suffered a serious hand injury and did not play guitar for several years. Even after recovery, I worked on music only occasionally. In 2021, I returned to the studio and gradually began recording both old and new songs; today I already have eight albums to my name.

Poetry. I started writing poetry around 2002. The peak of my poetic activity came in the late 2000s, when LiveJournal was a popular platform, but I still write poetry today, though rarely. In 2006, I wrote the Textbook of Versification (unfortunately based exclusively on Russian-language poetry), which gained a certain popularity online (and in 2026 I revised and edited it for the first time since then). Since 2010, individual poems have been published in print and have received various awards. Among other things, a small poetry collection, The Hounds of the Lord, was published. I occasionally run poetry workshops and give masterclasses on versification.

Miscellaneous. Overall, I have a wide range of interests and hobbies, many of which are reflected on this website. These include not only books in various genres, lectures, and music, but also festival organization, work on museum and exhibition projects, cybersecurity, postcard collecting, film scripts, and urban projects. At different times, I have participated in games such as ENcounter and What? Where? When?, twice reached the finals of the Yandex Cup (an internet search championship), appeared on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and Svoya Igra (the Russian equivalent of Jeopardy!), performed on radio and television, and even acted in theater (for example, playing Claude Frollo in a French-language production of The Hunchback of Notre Dame). In general, I am interested in everything—which, admittedly, sometimes makes life more complicated.