The Wizard of the Kremlin

The Wizard of the Kremlin (French: Le mage du Kremlin) is the debut novel by Giuliano da Empoli published in April 2022 by Éditions Gallimard. It won the 2022 Grand prix du roman de l'Académie française and was a finalist for the Prix Goncourt, which was awarded to Vivre vite by Brigitte Giraud. Summary The author recounts his imagined meeting, one night in Moscow, with the enigmatic Vadim Baranov, once an artist, producer of reality TV shows and éminence grise of Vladimir Putin, nicknamed "the Tsar". Retired from business at the time of the story, Baranov recounts his youth, his life in 1990s Russia, his contribution to the political rise of "the Tsar" from 1999 and his experience of power, the central theme of the book. Realist elements Character inspired by Vladislav Surkov The main character of the plot, Vadim Baranov, is fictional, but he shares many common traits with Russian politician Vladislav Surkov, whose atypical profile—rap lover, avant-garde theater director, writer and businessman—prompted The New York Times to call him one of Russia's “most intriguing figures.” Like Baranov, Surkov was Vladimir Putin's man in the shadows, "a poet among wolves", according to Marianne.