-- German and Russian professor Yuri Druzhnikov of UC Davis has received a series of international accolades in recent months. He was nominated "best Russian writer of 1998," according to Moscow Book Review. Druzhnikov's monograph, "Prisoner of Russia: Alexander Pushkin and Political Uses of Nationalism" was in the list of intellectual bestsellers, according to the Moscow newspaper Izvestia. An English version of this book is being released this month by Transaction -- Rutgers University Press. In December, a University of Warsaw report included Druzhnikov's documentary novel "Angels on the Head of a Pin" in the list of 10 best Russian novels of the 20th century.