Orlando Figes is the son of the feminist book writer Eva Figes and the brother of writer Kate Figes. He is a British historian and professor who has written a lot of books which centers on the history and culture of the Soviet Union. His career as a historian is significantly successful and his books paved way for the real history of Russia. Because of his books, he has received awards and accolades in being a one of the finest Russian historians in United Kingdom.
Figes was born in 1959 in a family which whose opinions were greatly influenced by the feminism of her mother. Just like ay writers, little Orlando showcased a strong sense of intelligence even when he was a kid. He attended William Ellis School in North London, which was a grammar school turned comprehensive during his sixth grade. William Ellis successfully hones a roster of fine historians as Mark Mazower and Toby Abse also attended the same school. Figes then attended the Gonville and Caius College in 1979 and studied history. During his time, Gonville and Caius was the top history college in Cambridge. The same with William Ellis School, the former were also home to other historians who became successful such as Vic Gatrell and Neil McKendrick. Alas, he graduated from college with a double-starred First and went on with his Ph.D. on Russian history at Trinity College in Cambridge.
Orlando Figes has been a history lecturer in University of Cambridge. Presently, he is working as a history lecturer at the Birkbeck College alongside his main job of being a historian. Throughout his career, he has registered several bestsellers such as A People’s Tragedy: The Russian Revolution, Natasha’s Dance: A Cultural History of Russia, The Whisperers: Private Life in Stalin’s Russia and Crimea: The Last Crusade.
Figes has received awards from several organizations such as the Wolfston Prize, NCR Book Award, WH Smith Literary Award, Longman/History Today Book Prize and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for A People’s Tragedy. For the book Natasha’s Dance, he got shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize and Duff Cooper Prize. The Whisperer’s also received the Samuel Johnson Prize, Ondaatje Prize, Premio roma and Prix Medicis.
All in all, Orlando Figes’ masterpieces have been translated into almost thirty languages due to its worldwide demand. Aside from writing books and teaching, he also contributes to the New York Review of Books on a regular basis.