After graduation from Moscow State Pedagogical Institute, where Shishkin studied German and English, he worked as a road worker, street sweeper, journalist, school teacher, and translator.
[5][6][7] Shishkin has published articles in The New York Times,[8] The Wall Street Journal,[9] The Guardian,[10] Le Monde,[11] The Independent,[12] and other media outlets.
His first novel One Night Befalls Us All (Omnes una manet nox) / Всех ожидает одна ночь also appeared the same year in Znamya.
"[15] His experience of moving to a new country inspired Shishkin to write Russian Switzerland / Русская Швейцария, a nonfiction literary-historical guide.
The gap between a word and a fact, between reality and its translation to the human language is a real hotbed of internal tension in the novel".
Daniel Kalder in The Dallas Morning News stated: "In short, Maidenhair is the best post-Soviet Russian novel I have read.
"[19] Boris Dralyuk wrote in The Times Literary Supplement that "Shishkin's prodigious erudition, lapidary phrasing and penchant for generic play are conspicuous components of his art...These characteristics do indeed ally him with Nabokov, as does his faith in the power of the written word: "The story is the hand, and you're the mitt.
The Wall Street Journal praised the author: "Mr. Shishkin has created a bewitching potion of reality and fantasy, of history and fable, and of lonely need and joyful consolation.
"[21] Monocle stated: "His latest novel, The Light and the Dark, in its brilliant translation, is striking proof that great Russian literature didn't die with Dostoevsky.
)"[24] The Guardian wrote: "Both novels attempt to represent multifaceted reality, and there is sometimes an unbearable intensity as the metaphors sprout and writhe.
According to critic Jacob Kiernan (New Orleans Review),"the collection consists of artfully constructed, empathetic tales of people living in the midst cyclonic time.
"[27] Translations of the works of Mikhail Shishkin have received numerous international awards, including the 2007 Grinzane Cavour Prize (Italy)[28] for Capelvenere (Italian translation of Maidenhair), the French literary prize for the best foreign book of the year 2005 - Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger (Essay) in Paris[29] and The International Berlin Prize (Haus der Kulturen der Welt) International Literature Award for the best foreign novel of the year 2011 for Venushaar (German translation of Maidenhair).
Without sounding archaic, it reaches over the heads of Tolstoy and Dostoevsky (whose relationship with the Russian language was often uneasy) to the tradition of Pushkin.
"[35] Shishkin openly opposes the current Russian government and criticizes sharply Vladimir Putin's domestic and foreign policies, including the annexation of Crimea in 2014.
[38] Mikhail Shishkin declared in his Open Letter:A country where power has been seized by a corrupt, criminal regime, where the state is a pyramid of thieves, where elections have become farce, where courts serve the authorities, not the law, where there are political prisoners, where state television has become a prostitute, where packs of impostors pass insane laws that are returning everyone to the Middle Ages – such a country cannot be my Russia.