Childhood and youth
Alexander Evgenievich Tsypkin was born in the Northern capital of Russia into a family with Slavic-Jewish roots. Sasha's surname comes from the female name Tzipora (Tsipka), mentioned in the Bible. The implementation of Tsypkin in Russian literature confirms the words of the writer Kuprin:
“In Russia, every Jew is a born writer.”
Alexander Tsypkin in childhood
According to Tsypkin, he is the brother of six sisters, some of whom are relatives, and some of whom are cousins, but who grew up with the future celebrity in the same house. Sasha’s parents and grandparents are doctors, but the boy chose a path for himself that was far from the professions of his older relatives, and after graduating from school he entered the main St. Petersburg university to study international communications.
In his younger years, he became a PR specialist, organizing international forums at leading Russian institutions. For several years he served as director of public relations in the regional office.
About the project “Real Stories”
From March 10 to April 15, 2020, all adult IQOS users can share stories that happened to them completely by accident, but changed a lot in their lives. Five winners will get the chance to have films based on their stories made.
The leader of “Real Stories” was the writer Alexander Tsypkin, the founder of the “Unprincipled Readings” project, the author of several bestsellers, whose books are published in more than 200 thousand copies. The writer will be involved in all stages of the project, from selecting stories as a jury member to writing scripts.
When asked if he himself has such a story, Alexander replies:
Do I have non-random accidents? Yes, that’s how I met my wife. This is a fantastic story in the style of my books. About three years ago she became one of the shareholders of a large publishing house. And her friend—and my friend at the same time—becomes the editor-in-chief of one of these magazines. And in the very first issue under his leadership, he took my story - quite hooligan, odious. Unexpected for this edition for sure. Friends come to her and say: “Listen, what have you brought the magazine to? Look how terrible the text is!” She reads and asks: “This is coolly written. Who is author?" This is how she finds out about me. And a year after that we met by chance at an event. It turns out that she and I have love at first text, and I have love with her at first sight.
- says Tsypkin.
The stories will be judged by both professionals and IQOS users*. Together with Alexander Tsypkin, the jury will include publicist Alena Doletskaya, writer and journalist Alexander Malenkov, theater director Talgat Batalov, creative director of Sobaka.ru in Russia Yana Miloradovskaya.
In addition to the professional jury, IQOS users will be able to evaluate project participants. All stories that have passed moderation will be published on the website and will be available for voting.
Alexander Tsypkin
Creation
In literature, Alexander made his debut as a publicist, interviewing hundreds of Russian and foreign celebrities from the ex-president of the USSR to the author of the hit “Drinking in St. Petersburg.” Collaborated with glossy and serious magazines. Writing success came as a surprise to Alexander. Due to personal circumstances, Tsypkin moved to Moscow in 2014, parting with the telecommunications company. The PR man urgently needed to acquire the necessary contacts in a new place.
Writer Alexander Tsypkin
Alexander considered the easiest way to establish himself by presenting stories from his biography on the pages of social networks. Tsypkin’s posts became popular: for example, a publication telling about the difficulties of explaining the Moscow metro system to foreigners received 35 thousand likes.
When the number of stories grew to several dozen, Alexander decided to publish them for his friends as a separate book. To do this, Tsypkin turned to the St. Petersburg publishing house “Astrel” and was very surprised when editor-in-chief Alexander Prokopovich offered to pay a fee for the collection of stories. The circulation of the first edition of the debut book “Women of Relentless Age and Other Unprincipled Stories” in 2015 amounted to a thousand copies.
Alexander Tsypkin reads his story from the stage
In the winter of 2020, after tearing his Achilles tendon in the Maldives, Tsypkin wanted to record actor Daniil Kozlovsky’s performance of the story “Tomato Juice” on an amateur camera. Having learned about Alexander’s plans, producer Elena Yanbukhtina assembled a film crew, which in March 2016 shot a video with the same name, which received 3 million views.
In the spring of 2016, the author of ironic stories beloved by social network users made his debut as a reader-performer at the Palkin restaurant. In the summer of the same year, Konstantin Khabensky joined the project. The popularity of the works grew, circulations and fees increased. The first collection was republished in 100 thousand copies. The former interviewer began to be interviewed.
Alexander Tsypkin
The writer donates a significant portion of his income to charity, helping children with cancer and “butterfly children.” So, in 2020, 20 million rubles were transferred from all Tsypkin’s projects to good deeds. Alexander explains his generosity by feeling guilty for not becoming a doctor like his ancestors, and by the pleasure of collaborating with people involved in charity.
Despite his successes in literature, Tsypkin does not like to be called a writer, since a master of text creates worlds, and the author of “Unprincipled Stories” only verbally “photographs” reality. Alexander implements the principle he formulated:
“If a book is a bestseller, if a play is a sell-out!”
Personal life
Alexander Tsypkin considers himself a lazy, cynical and disorganized person whom fortune loves. The writer’s favorite musical group is Depeche Mode, and his main hobby is traveling (as of the summer of 2020, Tsypkin has traveled abroad over 600 times; in his youth he could go to a night party in Dubai or to restaurant gatherings in Seoul).
He takes the Buddhist teaching about karma seriously, and performed the “kora” - a ritual circumambulation of Kailash. On social networks he shows himself as he would like to be. I started Instagram at the age of 40.
Alexander Tsypkin and his wife Oksana Lavrentieva
Having repeatedly stated that the institution of marriage is dying, the writer has already said “yes” three times within the walls of the registry office. In the summer of 2020, Tsypkin married socialite, model and businesswoman Oksana Lavrentyeva, who looks surprisingly similar to Alexander’s previous wife, Elena Martynova. In the wedding photos, the bride, who has two children from previous marriages, is depicted in a white dress with a charming bouquet of lilies of the valley in her hands. The ceremony was hosted by Ksenia Sobchak.
Writer Tsypkin visited dying hospice patients. Well done, but why brag about it?
It would seem like an ordinary story - the writer spoke on his social networks about another reading of his stories. And, as usual, there were those who didn’t like it. Maybe because of this post caption.
“These trips are fantastic for me. I am less and less afraid, and more and more believe,” he wrote, and then began to thank the co-chair of the foundation, Ingeborga Dapkunaite, who organized the visit. There were significantly fewer words in the post about the patients themselves, literally one sentence.
The Telegram channel “Ruthless PR Man”, in its scandalously impudent style, commented on the visit and accused Tsypkin of simply trying to add shine to his halo by boasting of a “good deed.”
The answer did not take long to arrive - his wife, actress Oksana Lavrenteva, stood up for the writer, and tried to do it in the style of the offender - caustically and with humor.
“I understand and accept that you may not like the work of Alexander Tsypkin, I can imagine that someone may consider him an unattractive man. “Everyone has their own taste or lack thereof,” she wrote.
As a result, Tsypkin, not very intelligent for a writer, peppered the publication with swearing and accused the channel’s authors of mocking not only him, but also the hospice patients, although the channel’s accusatory publication was not about them at all.
“The ‘ruthless PR man’ couldn’t find anything better than to laugh at the hospice patients, ‘witty’ noting that they have no choice and are forced to listen to my moronic stories, which in other audiences are only listened to by idiots,” he wrote.
Of course, the situation is not as simple as it might seem. Tsypkin was actually called by one of the hospice patients, a fan of creativity. And this visit, of course, was important and pleasant for him, and even for the sake of one person it was worth going and reading his stories. But why shout about it?
A person who does not want to inflate the topic, who is not as worried about his pride as Tsypkin and his team, would not pay attention to this - you never know what anyone says. If he is really right, there will be intercessors. But the writer nevertheless decided to answer himself, to draw additional attention to his person, to his sublime act - in case no one noticed.
The fact that the writer Tsypkin, his wife and many of his famous friends decided to take part in the conflict with the famous and scandalous Telegram channel, but did not even think about making a banal call to help the sick - in word, penny or deed - is a great indicator.
Another Telegram channel, Witness to the Empire, very accurately noted: you need to shout about charity only when other methods do not work. You can publicly declare your help when you want to help even more, to attract others. “BP” himself played on this - in one of his subsequent posts, he invited everyone who was following the unfolding scandal to make their contribution - to make a donation to that very hospice.
But Tsypkin just came to read stories. And then he began to boast about it. And even making excuses for the scandal, expressing gratitude to everyone who supported him, Tsypkin did not consider it superfluous to boast - he himself is a trustee of two foundations, which means he knows better what is good for charity.
The hospice itself justifies Tsypkin, saying that, be that as it may, the deed is good and important, because for patients such visits are a way to escape from their situation, have an interesting time, and so on. Who would argue, just stirring up interest in oneself through one’s imaginary charity, and even more so making a scandal about it, is clearly unnecessary.
Good deeds should not be trumpeted by those who do them. If the hospice itself or its patients want to thank Tsypkin or anyone else, want to talk about it and share their impressions, then they have every right to do so. But what kind of good deeds are these if they try to tell about them as quickly as possible? Still, the “PR Man” is definitely right about one thing: charity loves silence.
The author's opinion may not coincide with the position of the editors.
Alexander Tsypkin now
In October 2020, the fashion writer became an unwitting participant in a social scandal - Konstantin Bogomolov shot a satirical short film shown at Tatler’s anniversary, in which Tsypkin is depicted as a yard cat, picked up out of pity by Oksana Lavrentieva. The writer’s wife regarded the demarche as “a knife in the back.”
Alexander Tsypkin in 2020
At the beginning of 2020, Alexander released the book “Goodbye Home and New Unprincipled Stories.” The publication became the best-seller of the Moscow book house. Based on Tsypkin’s script, director Anna Melikyan directed the film “Tenderness,” which tells the story of a woman of Balzac’s age who needs to prove to her friends that she is in demand among men. On December 17, the creators of the 20-minute film posted a short film on YouTube.
Short film "Tenderness"
For the film “Farewell, beloved!” Over 10 million rubles were paid for Tsypkin’s work at the festival-auction.
Although Alexander Evgenievich continues to cooperate with the Vertical law office, fees from literary and semi-literary activities now account for more than half of Tsypkin’s income. It is possible that in 2020 the author of funny and sad stories will realize his dream and go down in the history of world literature.
