Boris Pasternak

Full Name: Boris Leonidovich Pasternak
Profession: Novelist and Poet

Biography: Boris Pasternak won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1958, shortly after the publication of his novel "Dr Zhivago" (1957). The book, set during the 1905 revolution, was banned in Russia and Pasternak was pressured into refusing the Nobel Prize. However the book was published in the West and later made into a major film directed by David Lean starring Omar Sharif and Julie Christie.

Before this Pasternak was primarily a poet. He published his first volume in 1914 and made his name with his 1922 work "Sestra moya—zhizn (1922; “My Sister—Life”), composed during the Russian Revolution. Pasternak also became a well regarded translator of Georgian poets, Shakespeare's plays and Goethe’s Faust.

Born: February 10, 1890
Birthplace: Moscow, Russia

Generation: Lost Generation
Star Sign: Aquarius

Died: May 30, 1960 (aged 70)
Cause of Death: Lung cancer