Max Kidruk (Ukranian: 袦邪泻褋 袣褨写褉褍泻; born April 1, 1984 in Volodymyrets, Rivne region, Ukraine) - popular Ukrainian writer and science popularizer, holds a master鈥檚 degree in Energy Engineering. Studied at the National University of Water Management and Nature Resources Use (Rivne, Ukraine), and then was getting a postgraduate education at Kyiv Polytechnic University and Stockholm Royal Institute of Technology. He left both graduate schools in 2009, having decided to become a professional writer.
While living in Stockholm, he started traveling actively, first around Europe, then further abroad. Currently, he has visited more than 35 countries, including Tanzania, Mexico, Ecuador, Peru, China, Chile, Brazil, Angola, Namibia, New Zealand, Indonesia and others. For a while was a travel journalist for a number of Ukrainian magazines. In 2009, was published his first book, a travelogue 鈥淢exican Chronicles. The Story of One Dream鈥� (the second prize of the Ukrainian Literary Award 鈥淐oronation of the Word鈥� (2009), the debut of the year from the bookstore chain 鈥楰S鈥�). Over the next three years, Kidruk published three autobiographical travelogues, 鈥淛ourney to the Navel of the World鈥� about Easter Island, 鈥淟ove and Piranhas鈥� about Brazil, and 鈥淭o Zealand!鈥� on the Egyptian Revolution, Syria and New Zealand. All of them earned reasonable success among the readers. In 2012, Kidruk published the first fiction novel, a sci-fi thriller 鈥滲ot鈥�, dubbed by critics as 鈥榯he first Ukrainian techno-thriller鈥�. Over seven years, 鈥淏ot鈥� was republished more than 6 times, the current edition 鈥� in November 2019. Over the next few years, Kidruk was slowly moving from writing techno-thrillers (鈥淭he Stronghold鈥�, 鈥淭he Ruthless Skies鈥�) to more serious dramatic and psychological stories. The sci-fi book 鈥淭he Inner Side of Dreams鈥� (2016) and the social novel 鈥淕odlessness鈥� (2018) were shortlisted for the BBC Book of the Year Award. The novel 鈥淕odlessness鈥� remained in the TOP-20 of the bookstore chain 鈥淏ookstore E鈥� for 13 weeks, 7 of which held the first position.
In the spring of 2015, in Poland was published currently the only Kidruk鈥檚 non-fiction book, 鈥淛a Ukrainiec鈥� (鈥淚, the Ukrainian鈥�). In the book, the author analyzes relations between Ukraine and Russia from the beginning of the liberation war led by Bohdan Khmelnytsky to the events of the Revolution of Dignity (2013-2014) and Russian military intervention in eastern Ukraine.
In 2017, Kidruk amazed the literary community by announcing a large-scale presentation tour with the new novel 鈥淒on鈥檛 Look Back and Stay Quiet鈥�. The tour covered 100 cities of Ukraine, where almost 140 presentations were made. For this novel the number of printed copies by the beginning of 2019 has exceeded 30 thousand.
In the fall of 2019, Kidruk鈥檚 first augmented reality novel 鈥淯ntil the light fades away鈥� was published. In addition to the interactive cover, the mobile application developed specifically for the book includes supplementary storylines, photos of the places where the events of the novel happen, a full diary of one of the characters, and a chat the reader can use to talk with one of the characters. The first print run (12,000 copies) was sold within the period of a month and a half. In the second week of sales, the book held the top spot of the TOP-20 list of the 鈥楤ookstore E鈥� network and at the end of 2019 continues to be in the top.