Mikhail
Bulgakov (1891–1940) was born in Kiev. Schooled as a doctor, he gave up the practice of medicine in 1920 to devote himself to writing. He went on to write some of the greatest novels in twentieth-century Russian literature, including
White
Guard and
Black Snow. Though Bulgakov’s work was often censored,
Stalin showed his personal favor by protecting him from imprisonment and finding a job for him at the Moscow Art Theatre, where the writer would work as a director and playwright for many years. He died at the age of forty-nine from a kidney disorder. His masterpiece,
The Master and Margarita, would not be published until twenty-six years after his death.
Nicholas Boulton, actor and winner of nine Earphones Awards for narration, studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, winning the BBC Carleton Hobbs Award for Radio in 1993. Since then he has been heard in numerous productions for BBC Radio 4 and the World Service. He has appeared in films such as Shakespeare in Love and Topsy Turvy. Theater credits include Platonov for the Almeida, Henry V for the Royal Shakespeare Company, and Arcadia for the Theatre Royal Haymarket.
