The Ukranian-born musician and writer Alina Simone relocated to the United  States at a very young age when her father refused to join the KGB. Alina moved into stardom with original songs and an album filled with covers of Russian singer-songwriter Yanka Dyagileva. Her first book, a collection of short stories called You Must Go and Win, was published in 2011. The book was succeeded by the novel Note to Self, which will be published in Dutch translation by Ambo|Anthos this October.

Alina wrote articles for the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and the Los Angeles Review, to name a few. Currently, she, her husband philosopher Josh Knobe and their daughter Zoe live in New York. She teaches creative non-fiction at Yale University and is a radio reporter for BBC’s The World.

Photo: Alina Simone copy right: Vinciane Verguethen