Born in Azerbaijan in 1984 into a Russian-Jewish family, Grjasnowa moved to Germany at the age of twelve. After graduating from the Creative Writing Program at the German Institute for Literature in Leipzig, Grjasnowa won the Wiener Wortstädten Dramatist Prize in 2010 for her play Mitfühlende Deutsche (Compassionate Germans). She is the author of two novels: All Russians Love Birch Trees and City of Jasmine. 

Co-Sponsors:  The Russian Department and The Goethe Institute in Boston