Maria Bregman

Maria Bregman (; born 20 March 1976) is a Russian-British art and literary critic, writer, and cultural producer. She is known for her critical essays in international publications such as Elle, Esquire, and Cosmopolitan, as well as her work as a literary author and founder of the arts publication Creativitys.UK.

Bregman is a member of the Union of Russian Writers, the PEN Center and the International Federation of Journalists. She has participated in international cultural events, including the Salon de la littérature russe in Paris and the New Delhi World Book Fair.

Early life and education Maria Bregman was born in 1976 in Moscow, then part of the Soviet Union. She graduated from the Maxim Gorky Literature Institute and its Advanced Literary Courses, where she studied prose. and ArtCulture.UK, as well as Russian-language outlets such as the Year of Literature portal and Afisha London.

Her work also appears in international lifestyle magazines, including the Romanian editions of Elle and Esquire, and Elle China. In 2022, she founded the online arts magazine Creativitys.UK and serves as its editor-in-chief. Bregman has also served on the jury for cultural awards, such as the SIFFA and Creativitys UK Awards.

She is an active participant in the international literary scene. She has been a recurring speaker at the Salon de la littérature russe in Paris (2022–2024), has given readings in London, and presented at the Indo-Russian conference at the 2025 New Delhi World Book Fair.

Filmmaking In 2025, Bregman made her debut as a documentary filmmaker. She directed the film Lydia Grigorieva. I Choose to Live , a 49-minute documentary about the poet Lydia Grigorieva.

The film had its UK theatrical screening at the Piccadilly Vue Cinema in London on 21 November 2025. It was selected for the competition program of the SIFFA UK Film Festival, where it won the Best Newcomer award in the Documentary category. . The film was presented at the "Salon de la littérature russe in Paris" book salon in Paris. In May 2026, the film received the Award for Excellence in Filmmaking at the joint awards ceremony of the 10th Romford Film Festival and the 9th ECG Eurasian Film Festival in London. On 3 June 2026, the film was screened at the A. F. Losev House-Museum in Moscow; Bregman participated online, together with screenwriter Yulia Tulegenova and the film's subject, Lydia Grigorieva.

Early work Early in her career, Bregman she worked at the UNESCO Assistance Fund under the direction of Zurab Tsereteli. She also worked at the Russian television channel Kultura under the direction of ; during this time, she created a documentary for the series Universities of the World focused on the Sorbonne University.

Writing for Literaturnaya Gazeta, critic Vera Linkova described Bregman's story "Chelnovaya" as a "tender and subtle story... which combines the beauty of village nature, family comfort, and the joy of falling in love."

Reviewing her work for an English-speaking audience, Evan Harvey wrote: "Maria Bregman writes beautifully and poetically, and her depiction of the harsh Russian winter and the Russian forest is at once stunning and accurate." Diploma, All-Russian competition "Front Line", dedicated to the anniversary of World War II, 2020 Laureate, New Amazons International Literary Competition, 2022 Longlisted, Fazil Iskander International Literary Award (prose category), 2022 Best Newcomer (Documentary), SIFFA UK Film Festival, 2025 Award for Excellence in Filmmaking for Lydia Grigorieva. I Choose to Live, joint 10th Romford Film Festival and 9th ECG Eurasian Film Festival, 2026

Selected bibliography Books Nutcracker (Щелкунчик). Moscow: Union of Russian Writers, 2016. Merging with Light (Слияние со светом), co-authored with George Bregman. St. Petersburg: FormaT, 2018. Nutcracker (English edition). Amazon Publishing, 2024.

Publications in anthologies and journals "The Eye of God" (Глаз Божий). Ice and Flame (Лед и пламень), No. 3, 2015. "The River Flows..." (Река течет...). Moskva (Москва), November 2022. Works published in collections including I Taught Women to Speak... (Я научила женщин говорить..., 2016), Daughters-Mothers (Дочки-матери, 2020), and Front Line (Линия фронта, 2020). Stories published in literary journals Irtysh-Om (Иртышъ-Омь, 2018–2020) and Tara Gates (Тарские ворота, 2020).