“Michael Alenyikov is the kind of writer one hopes is out there, waiting to be discovered. He is one of the more gifted, ambitious, compassionate unknowns I've come across in a long while. I can't imagine the adjective ‘unknown’ will apply to him for too much longer.” --Michael Cunningham, author of The Hours
Books
Sorrow’s Drive: A Quartet
“Michael Alenyikov’s Sorrow Drive is a remarkable achievement. Grief-struck and yet so full of life and love on every page, each of these four stories carry a great deal of emotional weight. Taken together the cumulative effect of the book is as glorious as it is sorrowful."
—Peter Orner, author of Still No Word from You: Notes in the Margin
Ivan and Misha
"Ivan and Misha" is the Great American Russian Novel told as Chekhov would tell it, in stories of delicacy, humanity, and insight. From Kiev to Manhattan, Brighton Beach, and Bellevue, Michael Alenyikovsky lays out a series of compelling arguments for brotherhood between brothers, between lovers, between men from an old country. Alenyikov confronts big subjects--illness and madness, sex and love in the age of AIDS, Old and New World values, a fallen wall, the metaphysics of survival, the march of generations." -- Carolyn Cooke, author of The Bostons and Daughters of the Revolution
“. . . Word madness is a hallmark of the writing: lyrical descriptions of place, time, and events; touches of the bizarre; everyday humor; and a love of New York from Brighton Beach in Brooklyn to the gentrifying East Village delight with their clarity and detail. Written with sweetness, compassion, and great beauty. . . ”
— Ellen Loughran, Booklist
“. . . Alenyikov weaves literary prose to poetry as if such a thing were easy to do. He exposes his characters — their quirks, their longings, their cares, their loves, their angst — with a lilt of pen rarely equaled . . .”
— George Seaton, Out In Print
Praise for Alenyikov’s Work
Selected praise - read more here.
Past Events
Readings
Edmund White Award for Debut Fiction
Ivan and Misha Finalist for Prize
Tisch Auditorium at the New School
Northern California Book Award for Fiction
Ivan and Misha Winner
Koret Auditorium at the San Francisco Main Library
The LGBT Commynity Center
209 West 13th Street
New York, NY
Barbés
376 9th Street (corner of 6th Avenue)
Park Slope, Brooklyn
Anchor Bar - The Ordinary Reading Series
272 College Street
New Haven, CT
The Green Arcade
1680 Market Street at Gough
San Francisco, CA
Books, Inc. - Castro
2275 Market Street
San Francisco, CA
Poesia Cafe
Wednesday October 4, 2023 7pm
4072 18th Street
San Francisco, CA