The Andrei Bely Prize: History and Perspectives of Russia’s First Independent Literary Prize

The Andrei Bely literary prize was established in 1978 in Leningrad by B. Ostanin, A. Dragomoshchenko, B. Ivanov, and Yu. Novikov (the editorial board of the samizdat journal «Chasy»). It aimed to reward writers of the city’s non-official ‘second’ culture and became a key reference point for Russia’s literary underground. The prize was the first independent award in the Soviet Union and the first to celebrate authors and works associated with non-mainstream culture. It demanded that underground literature be acknowledged and took a stance of resistance against the dictates of socialist realism. From the collapse of the Soviet Union, the prize was awarded irregularly until 1997, when, in the light of the new political scenario it was reinstated. The aim of this paper is to examine the relationship between the Andrei Bely prize and other literary prizes in Russia, analyse how it has changed over the last 40 years, and reflect on its significance and role in today’s world