Marina Akhmedova

Marina Akhmedova is a Moscow-based journalist and writer. She is staff reporter at the popular Russky Reporter magazine. Her stories focus on social and cultural issues. She writes regularly on North Caucasus. Marina is an author of three popular novels. Her last novel ‘Khadijah, Notes of a Death Girl’ was nominated for the Russian Booker, Russia’s most prestigious literary award.

God is your refuge

A monastery near Moscow has opened its doors to the city’s homeless — in exchange for food and shelter, the men help out on the farm. Marina Akhmedova spent some time among the labourers, discovering how they ended up on the streets, and finding out what they think of the meaning of life.

By Marina Akhmedova

/ 1 Feb 2013

The shepherds of Sevukh

The Avars are an ancient people living in the mountains of Dagestan (North Caucasus). Many of them are shepherds. The blandishments of modern life are encroaching on their centuries-old way of life, but they have no chance of doing anything else, even military service. Marina Akhmedova spent some

By Marina Akhmedova

/ 13 Sep 2012

Snap goes the Crocodile

Marina Akhmedova spent four days in the company of drug users in Yekaterinburg, central Russia, and was met with a picture of desperation, punctured by love, humanity and misplaced hope. oDRussia is proud to reproduce Akhmedova’s harrowing piece of reportage journalism — perhaps unwisely, now bann

By Marina Akhmedova

/ 3 Aug 2012

Hijab Wars

In Dagestan, where government forces are pitched against insurgents, and the official priesthood against the Salafites, the third front concerns women. Marina Akhmedova reports from the region on the totemic role of the hijab in these events.

By Marina Akhmedova

/ 16 Jul 2012