Alexander Genis is a Russian-American
writer

Writer

A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....

, broadcaster

Presenter

A presenter, or host , is a person or organization responsible for running an event. A museum or university, for example, may be the presenter or host of an exhibit. Likewise, a master of ceremonies is a person that hosts or presents a show...

, and cultural critic. He has written more than dozen books that are non-fiction bestsellers in Russia.

Genis, an American citizen, now resides in the New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 area.

Life and career

After graduating from Latvian State University in Riga

Riga

Riga is the capital and largest city of Latvia. With 702,891 inhabitants Riga is the largest city of the Baltic states, one of the largest cities in Northern Europe and home to more than one third of Latvia's population. The city is an important seaport and a major industrial, commercial,...

, then - USSR, Genis emigrated to USA in 1977 at the age of 24. His career started in NYC where he met and worked with many of the luminaries of this time: Nobel Prize in Literature winner Joseph Brodsky

Joseph Brodsky

Iosif Aleksandrovich Brodsky , was a Russian poet and essayist.In 1964, 23-year-old Brodsky was arrested and charged with the crime of "social parasitism" He was expelled from the Soviet Union in 1972 and settled in America with the help of W. H. Auden and other supporters...

, writer Sergei Dovlatov, painter and writer-conceptualist Vagrich Bakhchanyan

Vagrich Bakhchanyan

Vagrich Hakobi Bakhchanyan was an Armenian, Russian, Ukrainian and American painter, artist and writer-conceptualist in the Russian language....

.

Genis is an anchorman of the weekly radio-show "American hour with Alexander Genis" broadcast in Russian by Radio Liberty for the last 20 years. Genis is a columnist and a contributing writer for the main liberal Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta

Novaya Gazeta

Novaya Gazeta is a Russian newspaper well known in the country for its critical and investigative coverage of Russian political and social affairs....

, and was formerly was the host of the TV show "Alexander Genis. Letters from America," shown on Russian TV channel "Culture".
Genis's books include:

• Red bread (collection of essays).
• USA from A to Y (cultural travelogue from the outside in).
• Knit (autobiographical essays).
• Darkness and Stillness (meditations).
• 6 Fingers (intellectual autobiography).
• Candy Wrappers( analysis of classical Russian paintings).
• Ginger-man (culinary essays).
• The Tower of Babel (cultural criticism).
• Dovlatov and his Environs (non-fiction novel
  Non-fiction novel
  The non-fiction novel is a literary genre which, broadly speaking, depicts real historical figures and actual events narrated woven together with fictitious allegations and using the storytelling techniques of fiction. The non-fiction novel is an otherwise loosely-defined and flexible genre...
  
  ).
• Ivan Petrovich is dead (essays on modern Russian literature).
• Ticket to China (cultural criticism).
• A Particular Case (essays on writers).
• Portrait of the Poet: 1978-1996 : Joseph Brodsky (Essay in English and Russian).