Vahur Afanasjev (born Vahur Laanoja; 24 August 1979 – 10 May 2021) was an Estonian novelist, poet, musician and film director best known for his novel Serafima and Bogdan a story following the lives in a village of Russian Orthodox Old Believers on the shore of the lake Peipus from the end of the World War II to the nineties.

[4] Afanasjev's last completed works were published posthumously, these include the collection of poems Tuulevaiksed aastad (2021) and a novel Rail Baltic ehk kelmitants vanaisa sarvedega (2022).

[citation needed] His characters included parasite worms, murderers, corrupted journalists, robots, and lonely gay men.

In June 2008, he presented his autobiographical documentary film Where Dreams End and was threatened with a court case concerning it.

[11] In April 2009, Afanasjev finished production of a documentary film called Rong Way about the complicated train travel between Estonia and Western Europe.