Shimun Vrochek


Shimun Vrochek, real name Dmitry S. Ovchinnikov is a Russian science fiction author. His work Piter has been cited as a case study of the boom in prosumer level participation in Russian fan fiction, using transmedia in ways that echo traditional Soviet methods, yet is completely commodified.

Life and career

Vrochek was born in the Northern Urals, in the Kungur region and grew up in Nizhnevartovsk. He graduated from Gubkin Russian State University of Oil and Gas, then enrolled in graduate school but did not complete his studies.
He has been a writer since 2001. In 2003 he began studying acting at Russian Academy of Theatre Arts. He then studied directing at the Boris Shchukin Theater Institute under Leonid Heifetz. He is best known as the author of Piter, a novel from the Metro 2033 universe. All of his works were originally written in Russian, though some of them have been translated to other languages. Piter has been translated to a number of European languages – such as German, Polish and Spanish.
In 2006, Мир Фантастики honored his work as "best national collection." That year, his short story collection Serzhantu Nikto Ne Zvonit won the Golden Caduceus at the Kharkiv International Fiction Festival.

Selected publications