Leonid Ivanovich Borodin (; 14 April 1938 – 24 November 2011) was a Russian novelist and journalist.
Biography Born in Irkutsk, Borodin was a Russian Orthodox Christian and a Soviet dissident. In the 1960s he belonged to the anti-Communist All-Russian Social-Christian Union for the Liberation of the People (VSHSON).Reference guide to Russian literature, Neil Cornwell, Nicole Christian, Taylor // Francis, 1998, p. 185who were put on trial in 1968 CCE 1.6, March 1968, "ASCULP trial". He was arrested and imprisoned in the 'strict regime' Camp 17 in 1968, and went on hunger strike there with Yuli Daniel and Aleksandr Ginzburg in 1969.
After his release in 1973, Borodin’s works were smuggled out of the Soviet Union. The publication of an English translation of The Story of a Strange Time led to his arrest in 1982 on charges of 'anti-Soviet propaganda'. He was sentenced to 10 years of hard labour in Perm-36 Maximum Security Camp (ITK-6), as well as five years' internal exile. Released after four years, in the perestroika era, Borodin was allowed to visit the West with his wife.
Borodin was the subject and first-person narrator of the 2001 film Leonid Borodin: Looking through the Years.Leonid Borodin: Looking through the Years. Dir. Viacheslav Novikov. Sacramento, Calif.: Artistic License, 2001.
A winner of many literary prizes, including the 2002 Solzhenitsyn Prize, Borodin was editor-in-chief of Moskva, a popular literary magazine. In 2005 he was appointed to the first convocation of the Public Chamber of Russia.
Works in English translation Partings, The Harvill Press, 1988. The Year of Miracle and Grief, Quartet Books, 1988. The Third Truth, Harpercollins, 1992. The Story of a Strange Time, Harpercollins, 1993.
References
External links Leonid Borodin entry (1968-1987), CCE Name Index 2002 interview after receiving the Solzhenitsyn Prize Moskva Journal New York Times review of Partings New York Times review of The Year of Miracle and Grief