Maksym Ivanovych Kidruk (Ukrainian: Максим Іванович Кідрук; born 1 April 1984) is a Ukrainian travelogue and fiction writer. His professional career began in 2009 with an autobiographical novel The Mexican Chronicles, describing the journey across Mexico from the Pacific Ocean to the Caribbean Sea. Since then, Kidruk has traveled in 29 countries and written eight fiction books, including travelogues, adventure stories and thrillers. He is the author of the very first Ukrainian techno-thriller, Bot. Most of his stories are based on real places and events which Kidruk witnessed or heard of from fellow travelers during his journeys. From 2012, he has been working solely in the techno-thriller genre.[2]

Max Kidruk
Kidruk in 2017
Kidruk in 2017
BornMaksym Ivanovych Kidruk
(1984-04-01) April 1, 1984 (age 40)
Volodymyrets, Ukraine
OccupationWriter
Period2009–present[1]
GenreTravel literature, techno-thriller

Life

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Kidruk was born on 1 April 1984 in Volodymyrets, a small town in western Ukraine (Rivne region).[3]

In 2006, he graduated from National University of Water Management and Natural Resources Use (located in Rivne city) receiving a MSc in Engineering. While at the university Kidruk also worked as a programmer in Russian Developers Company ASCON. After graduating Kidruk moved to Kyiv, and became a PhD student at National Technical University "Kyiv Polytechnic Institute".[3][4]

 

In 2007, Kidruk obtained a Swedish Institute scholarship, and moved to Stockholm. He studied Sustainable Development at the Swedish Royal Institute of Technology (Kungliga Tekniska Hogskolan — KTH), one of the leading technical universities in Europe at the time.[3]

In the following 2 years, Kidruk lived in Europe, gradually moving away from science toward literature.[2]

During the summer of 2008, Kidruk started his first big journey overseas, flying to Mexico and crossing the country from the western to eastern coast with a small backpack and little money. The adventures on the trip formed the core of his first published book, The Mexican Chronicles. The book becomes an instant success in Ukraine (the first edition sold out within 6 months, during the next 3 years the book was reissued 3 times), and Kidruk decided to leave his science career and focus on literature. Kidruk's next big trip to South America and Easter Island developed into his second travel book The Journey to the Navel of the World, published in 2010. The book was also successful (the second edition appeared in 2012). During 2010–2012, Kidruk visited Angola, Namibia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Brazil, China, Turkey, Norway, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, New Zealand, Italy, France and others, in total almost 30 countries. He accidentally became a witness of the Egyptian uprising in 2011, staying two weeks on Tahrir square surrounded by Arabs protesting against President Mubarak. Later in 2011, Kidruk organized a response to a sexually harassing "Win a Ukrainian Wife" competition launched by New Zealand's The Rock Fm radio station (the action took place in Auckland, New Zealand, it is described in an autobiographical book To New Zealand!).[2][4][5]

In 2012, Kidruk published techno-thriller Bot, a story based on programming, nanotechnologies and mysteries of a human brain. This work was very successful. The first edition of Bot sold out in 3 months. The book entered "Knyharnya Ye" bookstore chart at number sixteen, reaching number two in just two weeks, and staying in the top ten for twelve weeks.[citation needed] Bot is being translated into Russian, Polish and German.[2]

In September 2013, techno-thriller The Stronghold was published.[6]

In the fall of 2014, the thriller Cruel Sky («Жорстоке небо») was published by the "Club of Family Leisure" («Клуб сімейного дозвілля») publishing house.

Bibliography

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Fiction

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Year Title Format Ref.
2009 The Mexican Chronicles. One Dream Story Novel [7]
2010 The Journey to the Navel of the World. Volume 1 Novel [8]
The Journey to the Navel of the World. Volume 2 Novel [citation needed]
2011 Screwballs in Mexico Collection [citation needed]
Screwballs in Peru Collection [citation needed]
Love and Piranhas Novel [9]
2012 Bot Novel [10]
2013 The Stronghold Novel [citation needed]
2014 To New Zealand! Novel [11]
Cruel Sky Novel [12]
2015 Bot II: The Guayaquil Paradox Novel [citation needed]
2016 Look Into My Dreams Novel [13]
2017 Don't Look Back and Don't Speak Novel [14]
2018 Where There Is No God Novel [15]
2019 For Future's Sake Novel [16]
Until Light Goes Out Forever Novel [citation needed]
2023 New Dark Ages. Colony Novel [17]

Journalistic books

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  • 2015 – Unbrotherly (Небратні)[18] — ISBN 978-966-14-8789-4

Books in collaboration

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  • 2011 – 20 Writers of Modern Ukraine
  • 2011 – Writers on Football
  • 2014 – Ode to Joy[19]
  • 2015 – Volunteers. Mobilization of the Good[20]

Translations

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  • 2012 – «Wodka für den Torwart: 11 Fußball-Geschichten aus der Ukraine» (in German)
  • 2013 – Bot (in Russian)
  • 2014 – «MAJDAN!: Ukraine, Europa» (in collaboration, in German)
  • 2014 – Bot (in Polish)
  • 2015 – «Ja, Ukrainiec» (in Polish)

Technical books

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  • 2008 – ArCon: Interior Design and Architectural Simulation for All (in Russian)
  • 2009 – Compass-3D V10 for 100% (in Russian)
  • 2009 – Video manual for self-tuition on Compass-3D (DVD) (in Russian)
  • 2010 – Work in designing system Compass-3D V11 (in Russian)

Awards

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  • 2nd prize in the Coronation of the Word 2009 contest.[21]
  • Winner of "The Book of the Year 2010" from Ukrainian magazine Correspondent.[22]
  • "The breakthrough of the Year 2009 in literature".[23]

References

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  1. ^ "From power engineering to Mexican chronicles - Dec. 22, 2011". KyivPost. 22 December 2011. Retrieved 26 November 2017.
  2. ^ a b c d "Interview with Maxym Kidruk: "My Biggest Dream Is That In 10 Years, Ukraine..."". Eastbook.eu. Retrieved 26 November 2017.
  3. ^ a b c Zaxid.net. "Кідрук: Важкий музон мене надихає". ZAXID.NET. Retrieved 26 November 2017.
  4. ^ a b "Максим Кідрук". koronatsiya.com. Archived from the original on 10 June 2012. Retrieved 26 November 2017.
  5. ^ "Максим Иванович Кидрук | Либрусек". lib.rus.ec. Retrieved 26 November 2017.
  6. ^ "Макс Кідрук написав новий роман "Твердиня" » Події » Презентації » Буквоїд". bukvoid.com.ua. Retrieved 26 November 2017.
  7. ^ Кідрук, Макс (2016-04-03). Мексиканські хроніки (in Ukrainian). Family Leisure Club. ISBN 9786171209787.
  8. ^ Кідрук, Макс (2016-04-08). Подорож на Пуп Землі (in Ukrainian). Family Leisure Club. ISBN 9786171209732.
  9. ^ Кідрук, Макс (2017). Любов і піраньї (in Ukrainian). Family Leisure Club. ISBN 9786171229181.
  10. ^ Кідрук, Макс (2012). Бот (in Ukrainian). Family Leisure Club. ISBN 9789661446532.
  11. ^ Кідрук, Макс (2013). На Зеландію! (in Ukrainian). Glagoslav Distribution. ISBN 9789661466264.
  12. ^ Кідрук, Макс (2014). Жорстоке небо (in Ukrainian). Glagoslav Distribution. ISBN 9789661479851.
  13. ^ Кідрук, Макс (2016-01-01). Зазирни у мої сни (in Ukrainian). Family Leisure Club. ISBN 9786171215047.
  14. ^ Кідрук, Макс (2017-01-01). Не озирайся і мовчи (in Ukrainian). Family Leisure Club. ISBN 9786171240766.
  15. ^ Кідрук, Макс. Де немає Бога (in Ukrainian). Family Leisure Club. ISBN 9786171256484.
  16. ^ Кідрук, Макс (2020). Заради майбутнього (in Ukrainian). Family Leisure Club. ISBN 9786171264267.
  17. ^ ""Це не буде фантастика". Макс Кідрук готує серію книг про стосунки між цивілізаціями Землі й Марсу". espreso.tv. Archived from the original on 25 October 2020. Retrieved 2019-12-01.
  18. ^ Кідрук, Макс (2015). Небратні (in Ukrainian). Family Leisure Club. ISBN 9789661494007.
  19. ^ Лис, Володимир; Положій, Євген; Денисенко, Лариса; Кідрук, Макс; Дашвар, Люко; Вдовиченко, Галина; Роздобудько, Ірен; Жадан, Сергій; Гаврош, Олександр (2018-07-11). Ода до радості (збірник) (in Ukrainian). Книжковий Клуб «Клуб Сімейного Дозвілля». ISBN 9785040086627.
  20. ^ Карпа, Ірена; ін, Макс Кідрук та (2015-01-01). Волонтери. Мобілізація добра (in Ukrainian). Family Leisure Club. ISBN 9789661490825.
  21. ^ "Оголосили переможців літературного конкурсу "Коронація слова - 2009"". eukraina.com (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 29 September 2016.
  22. ^ "Названо переможців конкурсу Найкраща українська книга-2010". unian.ua (in Ukrainian).
  23. ^ "Премія "Відкриття року"". litakcent.com (in Ukrainian). Archived from the original on May 19, 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
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