Vahur Afanasjev


Vahur Afanasjev was an Estonian novelist, poet, musician and film director best known for his novel Serafima and Bogdan a story following the lives in a village of Russian Orthodox Old Believers on the shore of the lake Peipus from the end of the World War II to the nineties. The novel won the 2017 Estonian Writers' Union's Novel Competition.

Biography

Afanasjev graduated from the University of Tartu in 2002, majoring in economic policy. He was a member of a literary group called Tartu Young Authors' Association since 1998, and a member of the Estonian Writers' Union since 2006. He worked as a journalist, media analyst, copywriter, creative director, and PR officer.
From 2005 to 2010, Afanasjev lived in Brussels, Belgium. He summed up his life as a euro official in the European Economic and Social Committee in his 2011 travelogue My Brussels.
He was awarded the Baltic Assembly Prize for Literature in 2021. He died unexpectedly on 10 May 2021.
Afanasjev's last completed works were published posthumously, these include the collection of poems Tuulevaiksed aastad and a novel Rail Baltic ehk kelmitants vanaisa sarvedega.

Writing

Afanasjev began his writing career with poems and lyrics in 1995. In 1997–98, he published three poetry collections on the internet. His first poems were published in the Estonian literary magazine Vikerkaar in 1998. He published poetry books, short stories, and novels. His works have been published in several collections of various authors in English, Finnish, Russian, Romanian, Dutch, and Hungarian.

Works

Poetry:Kandiline maailm 2000Kaantega viin 2004Katedraal Emajões 2006Eesti vaarao 2013Kuidas peab elama 2014Tünsamäe tigu 2015Hõbehundi laulud 2020Tuulevaiksed aastad 2021
Novels:Kastraat Ontariost 2005Kosmos 2008Serafima ja Bogdan an epic novel published 2017 in Estonian, 2019 in RussianÕitsengu äärel 2020Rail Baltic 2022
Other ProseKanepi kirik 2002 Kaadrid otsustavad 2007
Non-fiction:Minu Brüssel 2011Kuidas taluda Tartut 2023

Awards

  • Elise Rosalie Aun Literary Prize 2018.
  • Estonian Cultural Endowment's Award for Prose 2018, for the novel Serafima and Bogdan
  • Viru Literature Prize 2018, for the novel Serafima and Bogdan
  • First Prize, Estonian Novel Competition 2017, issued by Estonian Writers’ Union, for the novel Serafima and Bogdan
  • Estonian Cultural Endowment's Award for Poetry 2016, for the poetry book Snail from Tünsamäe
  • Go Travel Travelogue Award 2012 for My Brussels
  • The Writer of Estonia 2010, awarded by Juhan Liivi Selts

Honors

Honorary Citizen of Peipsiääre parish, with a badge of honor.

Style

His style was described as socially critical magic realism flavoured with obscurities. His characters included parasite worms, murderers, corrupted journalists, robots, and lonely gay men. "...2008 saw the publication of his short novel Cosmos. This is a peculiar tale that could be characterised as Brokeback Mountain meets Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas."

Music

In addition to his writing, Afanasjev made electronic music, punk-like electric guitar rock, blues and country, and experimental noisepop.
A CD of tra_art was published with Vahur Afanasjev's book Kanepi Kirik. Two of his recordings were on a CD of singing writers.
He also wrote lyrics for Orelipoiss, Skriimsilm, and Päris Anny.

Film

Afanasjev made experimental short films since 2006, and used photos and Microsoft PowerPoint in film production. In June 2008, he presented his autobiographical documentary film Where Dreams End and was threatened with a court case concerning it. The film had its official premiere at the Eclectica festival. In April 2009, Afanasjev finished production of a documentary film called Rong Way about the complicated train travel between Estonia and Western Europe.