Richard Coombes is a former international tax specialist who took early retirement from tax in order to pursue his passion for Russian. He has written music, songs and stories of his own, and translates Russian literature into English.
Richard’s recently published translations include several short stories by Elena Dolgopyat and poetry by Lyudmila Knyazeva and Dmitry Vodennikov. Richard contributed 12 translations to the WWII poetry collection Frontovaya Lira (‘Poems from the Front’), published in Russia in hardback in late 2021 and nominated for ‘Book of the Year 2021’ in a category specifically relating to the war. Forthcoming publications include Liza’s Waterfall, a documentary-thriller-biography by Pavel Basinsky, and, shortly before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Richard had agreed terms with a publisher to translate Elena Dolgopyat’s short story collection Someone Else’s Life, and also signed a contract (subject to funding) to translate a recent winner of Russia’s National Bestseller book award.