Vadim Levental was born in St. Petersburg and studied Russian literature at St. Petersburg State University. He has worked as a loader, a waiter, a designer, a bank clerk and played a small part in a TV series. He is now the managing director of the National Bestseller Prize and editor-in-chief of an independent press in St. Petersburg. His fiction has been published in numerous international magazines and, including "St. Petersburg Noir" (Akashic Books, Brooklyn, NY). "Masha Regina" is his first novel. He lives in St. Petersburg. Translator Lisa Hayden lives in Maine.