The Russian Ministry of Labour Has Approved a Professional Standard for “Writer”, to Take Effect on 1 September 2026

One of its provisions states that a writer is a person with a higher education.

No, Maxim Gorky did not have a higher education. He tried to enter Kazan University, but failed.

Joseph Brodsky formally completed only 7 years of school, left and went to work at a factory as an apprentice milling-machine operator.

Ivan Bunin left the gymnasium at the age of 15 and was taught by his elder brother.

But that is different

Report a translation error

At the close of the Strugatskys' "Roadside Picnic" the Golden Sphere is asked for this: "Happiness for everybody, free, and let nobody go away unsatisfied!" I do not promise to leave no one aggrieved, but the digest really does come free

At the close of the Strugatskys' "Roadside Picnic" the Golden Sphere is asked for this: "Happiness for everybody, free, and let nobody go away unsatisfied!" I do not promise to leave no one aggrieved, but the digest really does come free. So, here is the

Frederic Leighton

Frederic Leighton. “Daedalus and Icarus”, 1869 Daedalus warns his son not to climb too high: the heat of the sun may melt the wax, but Icarus is already gazing into the distance, and the lamentations of a foolish old man interest him not in the least

The Russian Ministry of Labour Has Approved a Professional Standard for “Writer”, to Take Effect on 1 September 2026

Read more

At the close of the Strugatskys' "Roadside Picnic" the Golden Sphere is asked for this: "Happiness for everybody, free, and let nobody go away unsatisfied!" I do not promise to leave no one aggrieved, but the digest really does come free

Frederic Leighton

Attempts to resolve the problems of many years of uncontrolled mass migration

Characters from Gogol's "Petersburg Tales" on the pedestal of the monument to Nikolai Gogol on Nikitsky Boulevard, photograph of the 1960s