Maria Arbatova

Maria Ivanovna Arbatova , is a Russian novelist, short story writer, playwright, poet, journalist, talkshow host, politician, and one of Russia's most widely known feminists in the 1990s. When growing up, she was already showing strong controversial ideologies, for instance, she refused to join the Young Communist League, for she preferred to be "a hippy". She studied at the Faculty of Philosophy at Moscow State University, in the Dramatic Arts division of the Gorky Literary Institute, and underwent training in psychoanalysis. She had to leave state university of Moscow "due to ideological conflicts." When she was 19, she became a mother of twins, which complicated her educational processes. She continued studying at the Maxim Gorky Literature institute. After finishing her studies, Maria published some prose and poetry works, however she returned to writing drama, as she claims it is more natural expression for her than other genres. In the pre-perestroika years, the years before 1985, her literary works were banned by censorship. Before glasnost and perestroika, the political program of restructuring and openness of Michail Gorbatsjov, Arbatova had just one play staged, a play that was commissioned. An example of a play that was censored is the play called "Equitation with two knowns". It was banned by the ministry of culture for 10 years. The play is about a female gynecologist performing abortions. The play was misinterpreted as a statement of good or bad of abortion. However the purpose of the play is to bring up the unfair share of responsibility for birth control and child-raising. Nowadays Arbatova is a member of the Moscow Writer's Union and the Union of Theatrical Workers of Russia. She is the author of fourteen plays staged in Russia and abroad, twenty books, and numerous articles in newspapers and periodicals. She has received multiple accolades for her literary and public achievements.

Early life Maria Arbatova (originally Gavrilina) was born in 1957 in Murom. Her parents gave her complete freedom and the run of her grandfather's apartment in the Arbat. This apartment had once belonged to the famous singer Fyodor Chaliapin and provided Maria with her pen name of Arbatova, which she took as her legal last name in 1999. Known as a non-conformist since her youth, she refused to join the Komsomol because it stood in contradiction to her principles.

She studied in the School of Young Journalists at Moscow State University, later transferring to the Faculty of Philosophy. She left the University due to ideological issues. She then studied in the Dramatic Arts division of the Maxim Gorky Literature Institute, She has also provided individual counselling since 1996. From 1996 onwards, her Club of Women Interfering in Politics from the University district of Moscow and, subsequently, wrote an account of her experience in the novel How I Fairly Tried to Get Into the Duma. In 2000, she conducted the political campaign of Ella Pamfilova, the first woman to run for the Presidency of Russia. Arbatova applied for the post of the Human Rights Plenipotentiary of Russia and, from 2001 to 2003, was the leader of the Human Rights Party. In 2005, she was among the leaders of the political block Free Russia during the Moscow municipal elections.

Despite her hippie years and literary background, Arbatova lived much the same life and shared the same problems as most Soviet women. Her first marriage to singer Alexander Miroshnik broke up, and she had to bring up 2 twin sons (Peter and Pavel, born in 1977 ) by herself. Her second marriage to Oleg Vitte didn't survive Arbatova's political activity and the State Duma elections she took part in. She is currently married to Shumit Datta Gupta, a financial analyst.

Maria Arbatova's activities, through her books, her numerous appearances and statements in the press and her social work, have brought to the forefront the theme of discrimination against Russian women. She has always refused grants for her activities, rejecting monetary gains for her "missionary" work.

English translations

On the Road to Ourselves, (play), from Russian Mirror: Three Plays by Russian Women, Psychology Press, 1998. (Years refer to the date of the publication of the translation)

Prose •My Last Letter to A (2006), published in War and Peace: Contemporary Russian Prose

Short stories •My Name is Women - (2003) published in Nine of Russia's Foremost women writers •My Teachers ( 1996 ) - published in A Will and a Way

Drama •Equation with Two Knowns ( 1996 ) - published in A Way and a Will •On the Road to Ourselves (2013) - published in Russian Mirror: Three Plays by Russian Women