About Pyotr Vail
Lived 1949 – 2009 (aged 60). Pyotr Vail was a Russian and American writer, journalist, essayist, radio personality and editing staff.
Pyotr Lvovich Vail (; born 29 September 1949, Riga, Latvian SSR – 7 December 2009, Prague, Czech Republic) was a Russian author, journalist, essayist and deputy director of Radio Liberty's Russia service.
Life Born in Riga 1949, he studied at the Moscow Polygraphic Institute. He moved to the United States in 1977, joining the station in the mid-1980s. He moved to the Prague headquarters in 1995. In 1995, he reported from Chechnya.
Vail's best-known books include Genii mesta (The Genius of Place) and Stikhi pro menya (Poems About Me). He produced several books with Alexander Genis, including Russkaya kukhnya v izgnanii (Russian Cuisine in Exile) and 60-e. Mir sovetskogo cheloveka (The '60s. The World of Soviet People). He co-edited Iosif Brodsky: trudy i dni (Joseph Brodsky: Works and Days), about Nobel Prize-winning poet Joseph Brodsky, with Lev Losev. He died in a Prague hospital.
Don’t just read it —
keep it.
Full-length biographies made to live with: read them, listen on the way to work, watch them tonight.
- E-book
- Audio
- Video
Instant download · yours to keep · every purchase keeps this site free
Important facts
People in Pyotr Vail's life
Named in this biography and alive at the same time
Related people
Same field, nearest in time
Contemporaries
People whose lives overlapped Pyotr Vail's
Frequently asked questions
Who was Pyotr Vail?
Russian writer (1949–2009)
When was Pyotr Vail born?
Pyotr Vail was born on 29 September 1949 in Riga.
When did Pyotr Vail die?
Pyotr Vail died on 7 December 2009 in Prague.
What was Pyotr Vail's occupation?
Pyotr Vail was a writer, journalist, essayist, radio personality and editing staff.
What nationality was Pyotr Vail?
Pyotr Vail was Russian and American.
Sources & further reading
Cite this page
APA: Biography.guide. (2026). Pyotr Vail. https://biography.guide/pyotr-vail/
MLA: "Pyotr Vail." Biography.guide, https://biography.guide/pyotr-vail/.
Chicago: "Pyotr Vail." Biography.guide. https://biography.guide/pyotr-vail/.
Data last updated: 2026-09-20 · Spot an error? Report a correction.
Page generated 2026-09-27 05:25 UTC