Olga Grjasnowa, born in 1984 in Baku, Azerbaijan, has had extended stays in Poland, Russia, Israel, and Turkey. She was awarded the Klaus-Michael Kühne Prize and the Anna Seghers Prize for her highly acclaimed debut novel, "Der Russe ist einer, der Birken liebt" (All Russians Love Birch Trees). Her novel "Gott ist nicht schüchtern" (City of Jasmine), published in 2016, became a bestseller with 50,000 copies sold. Her most recent work is titled "Der verlorene Sohn" (The Lost Son). Olga Grjasnowa is a professor at the Institute for Language Arts at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna and resides with her family in the city.