Fazil Iskander (1920 - 2016) was raised in Abkhazia but settled permanently in Moscow after graduating from the Gorky Literary Institute in Moscow in 1954. Iskander's major works include the satirical novel Sozvezdiye kozlotura (1966; The Goatibex Constellation) and the allegorical dystopia Kroliki i udavy (1982; Rabbits and Boa Constrictors). Iskander spent decades writing the epic novel Sandro iz Chegema (Sandro of Chegem), which chronicles the collision of Soviet values with Abkhazian patriarchal life.
