David Shrayer-Petrov
The Jewish-Russian author David Shrayer-Petrov was born in 1936 in Leningrad (St. Petersburg), and debuted as a poet in the 1950s. After graduating from medical school in 1959, Shrayer-Petrov served as a military physician in Belarus before returning to Leningrad to pursue both literature and medicine. He married the philologist and translator Emilia Shrayer (née Polyak) in 1962 and moved to his wife’s native Moscow in 1964. There, he published a collection of poetry, many literary translations, and two books of essays in the 1960s and ‘70s. Exploration of Jewish themes put Shrayer-Petrov in conflict with the Soviet authorities, limiting publication of his work and prompting him to emigrate. A Jewish refusenik in 1979–1987, Shrayer-Petrov lived as an outcast in his native country but continued to write despite expulsion from the Soviet Writer’s Union and persecution by the KGB.
Shrayer-Petrov was finally allowed to emigrate in 1987, settling in Providence, Rhode Island, where he was able to continue his academic work as a cancer researcher on the faculty of the Brown University Medical School. Since emigrating, Shrayer-Petrov has published nine books of poetry, nine novels, five collections of short stories, and three volumes of memoirs. In 1992, Shrayer-Petrov’s novel "Herbert and Nelly," a Refusenik Saga was long listed for the Russian Booker Prize. Syracuse University Press previously published three volumes of Shrayer-Petrov’s fiction, "Jonah and Sarah: Jewish Stories of Russia and America" (2003) and "Autumn in Yalta: A Novel and Three Stories" (2006), and "Dinner with Stalin and Other Stories" (2014), all three of them edited by his son, Maxim D. Shrayer. Shrayer-Petrov’s works have been listed for a number of other literary prizes and translated into several foreign languages. Now retired from his research position, Dr. Shrayer-Petrov lives in Brookline, Massachusetts, with his wife of over fifty years, and devotes himself to full-time writing.
Shrayer-Petrov was finally allowed to emigrate in 1987, settling in Providence, Rhode Island, where he was able to continue his academic work as a cancer researcher on the faculty of the Brown University Medical School. Since emigrating, Shrayer-Petrov has published nine books of poetry, nine novels, five collections of short stories, and three volumes of memoirs. In 1992, Shrayer-Petrov’s novel "Herbert and Nelly," a Refusenik Saga was long listed for the Russian Booker Prize. Syracuse University Press previously published three volumes of Shrayer-Petrov’s fiction, "Jonah and Sarah: Jewish Stories of Russia and America" (2003) and "Autumn in Yalta: A Novel and Three Stories" (2006), and "Dinner with Stalin and Other Stories" (2014), all three of them edited by his son, Maxim D. Shrayer. Shrayer-Petrov’s works have been listed for a number of other literary prizes and translated into several foreign languages. Now retired from his research position, Dr. Shrayer-Petrov lives in Brookline, Massachusetts, with his wife of over fifty years, and devotes himself to full-time writing.
