Andrei Gelasimov was born in Irkutsk, one of the largest cities in Siberia, in 1965. He went on to study foreign languages at the Yakutsk State University, as well as directing at the Moscow Theater Institute. In 2001 he came to popular literary acclaim in Russia when his story A Tender Age, which he originally published on the Internet, was included in an issue of the journal Oktyabr, and his novella and collection of short stories, Fox Mulder Looks Like a Pig, was released. Gods of the Steppe is his third novel to be published in English, following Thirst, for which Booklist praised Gelasimov s spare prose and pointed dialogue, and The Lying Year, which was developed into a motion picture. Gelasimov s work has garnered the Apollon-Grigorev prize and a Belkin prize nomination. Gods of the Steppe won the 2009 National Bestseller award in Russia.

Marian Schwartz has translated the works of Nina Berberova. She lives in Austin, TX.