Lada Luzina

Vladislava Kucherova (Ukrainian: Владислава Кучерова; born 21 October 1972), better known by the pen name Lada Luzina (Ukrainian: Лада Лузіна), is a Ukrainian author and former journalist.

Nicknamed the "Kyiv Witch", she writes novels in Russian within the crime and fantasy genres.

Luzina was born on 21 October 1972 in Kyiv, Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.

Her parents divorced when she was four years old.

"У мене золота мама, вона ніколи мені нічого не нав'язувала і не забороняла. Пізніше я зрозуміла те, що усвідомлювала в дитинстві інтуїтивно: батько міг би мене зламати. Мама ж виростила мене абсолютно вільною. Саме завдяки її виховання в мені сформувався головний життєвий принцип: у світі немає нічого неможливого! Всі правила і закони ілюзорні.

I have a golden mother, who never imposed or forbade me anything.

Later, I realized what I knew intuitively as a child: my father could break me.

My mother raised me completely free.

It is thanks to her upbringing that the main principle of life has formed in me: nothing is impossible in the world!

All rules and laws are illusory." Eventually, she began to user her mother's maiden name, Luzina, as a pseudonym.

She began her book career in 2002, when she self-published her first book, My Lolita.

Initially planned as a trilogy, her "Witches of Kyiv" series began in 2005, when the book Sword and Cross was published.

The series is of the crime and fantasy genre.

Thematically, it focuses on questions around the cultural identity of Kyiv as it sits between Russia and Ukraine.

In 2007 and 2008, the Ukrainian and Russian films Masha and the Sea (Masha i more) were released based on the story of the same name from Luzina's book I am a witch!

Luzina's book Shot at the Opera, the second in her "Witches of Kyiv" series, was awarded “Best Ukrainian Book” in 2008.

In 2010, Luzina was included in the list of "Top 10 most successful writers of Ukraine" according to magazine, which estimated the total book circulation of the writer sold in Ukraine between 1992 and 2010 to be about 250 thousand copies.

The publisher originally announced that the third and final book of the series, The Master's Recipe, was planned to be released in the fall of 2011.

Instead, three different novels from the series were released in 2011.

In 2012, she was included in the ranking of the top 30 most successful writers of Ukraine, according to the magazine Focus.

In 2012, the writer received the literary award.

The first eight chapters of the book were uploaded onto Luzina's website, but by 2014, the book had still not been published.

In 2014, Luzina wrote a book titled Kak ja byla skandal'noj žurnalistkoj (How I was a Scandalous Journalist).

After the 8th grade, her mother took Luzina to an architectural school, the Vocational School No. 18, after which she worked in construction.

She later entered the Faculty of Theater Criticism of the Kyiv Theater Institute.

Starting her freshman year, her articles and poems began to be printed in various publications.

After leaving school, Luzina began her career as a tabloid journalist, which earned her the nickname "scandal journalist".

Luzina stories are mainly set in Kyiv, where she lives and works, and typically follow the urban fantasy genre.

Her 2020 urban fantasy book, Demons of Vladimirskaya Gorka, was based on Kyiv's historical plague and cholera epidemics.

Luzina has stated that Ukraine, Belarus and Russia all come from Kievan Rus', and has called Russia "Ukraine's daughter."