Art made for children is a diverse and vast part of contemporary culture.

Literature has been present in our lives since childhood, it is with its help that the concept of good and evil is laid, a worldview and ideals are formed.

Even in preschool and primary school age, young readers can already appreciate the dynamics of poems or beautiful fairy tales, and at an older age they begin to read thoughtfully, so books need to be selected accordingly.

Let's talk about Russians and foreign children's writers and their works.

Children's writers of the 19-20 century and the development of children's literature

For the first time, books especially for children in Russia began to be written in the 17th century, in the 18th century the formation of children's literature began: at that time such people as M.Lomonosov, N.Karamzin, A.Sumarokov and others lived and worked. The 19th century is the heyday of children's literature, the "Silver Age", and we still read many books of writers of that time to this day.

Lewis Carroll (1832-1898)

The real name of the writer is Charles Dodgson, he grew up in a large family: Charles had 3 brothers and 7 sisters. He went to college, became a professor of mathematics, and even received the rank of deacon. He really wanted to become an artist, drew a lot, loved to photograph. As a boy, he composed stories, funny stories, adored the theater.

If his friends had not persuaded Charles to rewrite his story on paper, "Alice in Wonderland" might not have seen the light, but still in 1865, the book was published.

Carroll's books are written in such an original and rich language that it is difficult to find a suitable translation for some words: there are more than 10 versions of the translation of his works into Russian, and the readers themselves can choose which one to give preference to.

Astrid Lindgren (1907-2002)

Astrid Eriksson (married Lindgren) grew up in a farmer's family, her childhood spent playing games, adventures and working on the farm. As soon as Astrid learned to read and write, she began writing various stories and the first poems.

Astrid composed the story "Pippi Longstocking" for her daughter when she was sick. Later came the novels "Mio, my Mio", "Roni, the robber's daughter", the trilogy about the detective Callie Blumkvist, the beloved by many triology, which tells about the cheerful and restless Carlson.

Astrid's works are staged in many children's theaters around the world, and her books are adored by people of all ages.

In 2002, a literary prize was approved in honor of Astrid Lindgren - it is awarded for her contribution to the development of literature for children.

Selma Lagerlef (1858-1940)

This is a Swedish writer, the first woman to receive Nobel Prize on literature.

Selma reluctantly recalled her childhood: at the age of 3, the girl was paralyzed, she did not get out of bed, and the only consolation for her were fairy tales and stories told by her grandmother. At the age of 9 after treatment, the ability to move in Selma returned, she began to dream of a career as a writer. She studied hard, received her Ph.D., became a member of the Swedish Academy.

In 1906, her book about the journey of little Niels on the back of Martin's goose was published, then the writer released the collection "Trolls and People", which included fantastic legends, fairy tales and short stories, she also wrote many novels for adults.

John Ronald Ruel Tolkien (1892-1973)

This English writer cannot be called exclusively for children, since adults are also enthusiastic about reading his books.

When he was three years old, his mother, who was widowed early, transported two children to England. The boy was fond of painting, foreign languages \u200b\u200bwere easy for him, he even got carried away with the study of "dead" languages: Anglo-Saxon, Gothic and others.

During the war, Tolkien, who went there as a volunteer, picks up typhus: it is in his delirium that he invents the "elvish language" that has become the hallmark of many of his heroes.

His works are immortal, they are very popular in our time.

Clive Lewis (1898-1963)

Irish and English writer, theologian and scholar. Clive Lewis and John Tolkien were friends, it was Lewis who was one of the first to hear about the world of Middle-earth, and Tolkien about the beautiful Narnia.

Clive was born in Ireland, but has lived most of his life in England. He releases his first works under the pseudonym Clive Hamilton.

Clive Lewis traveled a lot, wrote poetry, loved to discuss various topics and was a well-rounded person.

His works are loved by adults and children to this day.

Russian children's writers

Kornei Ivanovich Chukovsky (1882-1969)

Real name - Nikolai Korneichukov is known for children's fairy tales and stories in poetry and prose.

He was born in St. Petersburg, lived for a long time in Nikolaev, Odessa, from childhood he firmly decided to become a writer, but, having arrived in St. Petersburg, he faced refusals from the editorial offices of magazines.

He became a member of a literary circle, a critic, wrote poetry and short stories.

He was even arrested for his courageous statements. During the war, Chukovsky was a war correspondent, editor of almanacs and magazines.

He owned foreign languages and translated works of foreign authors.

Most famous works Chukovsky - this is "Cockroach", "Fly Tsokotukha", "Barmaley", "Aibolit", "Miracle tree", "Moidodyr" and others.

Samuil Yakovlevich Marshak (1887-1964)

Playwright, poet, translator, literary critic, a talented author. It was in his translation that many first read Shakespeare's sonnets, poems by Burns, fairy tales of different peoples of the world.

Samuel's talent began to manifest itself in early childhood: the boy wrote poetry, had the ability to foreign languages.

The poetic books of Marshak, who moved from Voronezh to Petrograd, immediately enjoyed great success, and their feature is the variety of genres: poems, ballads, sonnets, riddles, songs, sayings - he could do everything.

He has received many awards and his poems have been translated into dozens of languages.

The most famous works are "Twelve Months", "Baggage", "The Tale of a Stupid Mouse", "That's How Absent-minded", "Mustache-Striped" and others.

Agniya Lvovna Barto (1906-1981)

Agnia Barto was an exemplary student, already at school she began to write poetry and epigrams for the first time.

Now many children are brought up on her poems, her light, rhythmic poems have been translated into many languages \u200b\u200bof the world.

Agnia was an active literary figure all her life, a member of the jury of the Andersen competition.

In 1976 she received the H.H. Andersen Prize.

The most famous poems are "Goby", "Bullfinch", "We are with Tamara", "Lyubochka", "Bear", "Man", "I am growing" and others.

Sergey Vladimirovich Mikhalkov (1913-2009)

He devoted a lot of time to social activities, although at first he had no dream of becoming a writer: in his youth he was both a laborer and a member of a geological expedition.

We all remember such works as "Uncle Styopa - a policeman", "What do you have", "Song of friends", "Three little pigs", "New Year's Eve" and others.

Contemporary children's writers

Grigory Bentsionovich Oster

A children's writer, in whose works adults can also learn a lot.

He was born in Odessa, served in the navy, his life is still very active: he is a leading, talented author, screenwriter of cartoons. "Monkeys", "A Kitten Named Woof", "38 Parrots", "Got It Who Bite" - all these cartoons were filmed according to his script, and "Bad Advice" is a book that has gained immense popularity.

By the way, an anthology of children's literature has been published in Canada: the books of most writers have a circulation of 300-400 thousand, and Auster's Bad Advice has sold 12 million copies!

Eduard Nikolaevich Uspensky

From childhood, Eduard Uspensky was a ringleader, participated in KVN, organized skits, then he first tried his hand at being a writer, later began writing plays for children's radio programs, children's theaters, dreamed of creating his own magazine for children.

The cartoon "Gena the Crocodile and His Friends" brought fame to the writer, since then the eared symbol - Cheburashka, has settled in almost every home.

We also still love the book and cartoon "Three from Prostokvashino", "Koloboks are conducting the investigation", "Plasticine crow", "Baba Yaga against!" other.

J.K. Rowling

Speaking about modern children's writers, it is simply impossible not to recall the author of the series of books about Harry Potter, the wizard boy and his friends.

It is the best-selling series of books in history, and films based on them have received huge box office.

Rowling has gone from obscurity and poverty to worldwide fame. At first, none of the editors agreed to accept and publish a book about a wizard, believing that such a genre would be of no interest to readers.

Only the small publisher Bloomsbury agreed - and it was right.

Now Rowling continues to write, is engaged in charity and social activities, she is a realized author and a happy mother and wife.

Olga

Arkady Gaidar, Janusz Korczak, Lev Kassil, Mark Twain - all these are the names of famous children's writers, whose works everyone has read. Their stories and stories are filled with kindness and humanity. What is known about the lives of these writers? Were they as kind and humane as their books?

There was little information about famous children's writers, especially Russian ones, during Soviet times. In the anthologies and textbooks, there were, of course, biographies of the authors, but they were meager, stereotyped and often deceitful. A writer who created moralistic works for children could not have vices and weaknesses.

Today information about this or that famous person is open. We can find out what the popular author was like in his personal life, what he loved, what he suffered from, how he spent the last days of his life. The biography of the most famous children's writers today is certainly not devoid of fiction, but it is much more reliable than thirty or forty years ago.

Below are the interesting Facts from the life of authors whose works are known to everyone. Or almost everyone. Famous children's writers are listed in alphabetical order.

Hans Christian Andersen

Perhaps this is the most famous children's writer. Who hasn't read Andersen's fairy tales? " The Snow Queen"," The Little Mermaid "," Thumbelina "," Wild Swans "," The Ugly Duckling "- everyone remembers the plot of these fairy tales.

Childhood famous writer passed in need. Andersen's father was a shoemaker, his mother was a couple. The future storyteller was a very sensitive and emotional child. Hans' mother appears to have been a kind and considerate woman. She sent her son to a charity school - one of the rare educational institutions at that time in which physical punishment was not practiced. At the age of 14, Hans Christian Andersen went to Copenhagen. He dreamed of becoming famous. As you know, his dream came true.

Agniya Barto

The woman, who wrote many poems for children, experienced a terrible loss - the death of her own child. Agnia Barto was born in Moscow, in an intelligent Jewish family. Since childhood, she studied at a ballet school, graduated from a choreographic school. The poetess's maiden name is Volova. She inherited "Barto" from her first husband, a poet and birdwatcher. Son Garik died 4 days before the Great Victory - May 5, 1945.

According to some reports, Agnia Barto, being the author of kind children's poems, did not differ in kindness in life. She took an active part in the persecution of Chukovsky's daughter. Barto's signature was also in a collective letter dedicated to one of the works of Korney Ivanovich, which the censors called "quack absurd nonsense."

Arkady Gaidar

The works of this author were previously present in every home library. Typically short curriculum vitae contained in the introduction. However, the truth was not written about the famous children's writer. She was painfully unsightly.

Those who were born in the USSR remember such works as "Blue Cup", "Chuk and Gek", "Timur and His Team". Some of Gaidar's books were included in the school curriculum, many of them were included in the summer literature list. However, Soviet readers knew nothing about the fact that the famous children's writer was a mentally unbalanced person and a murderer.

Arkady Gaidar began his military career at the age of fourteen. At seventeen he was already at the head of a regiment. At twenty he was admitted to a special purpose unit and sent to Khakassia. Here he had to find and destroy the white officers who acted under the leadership of Kolchak. Gaidar did not succeed in this, and therefore he became angry and began to execute ordinary, innocent people. Even among the active participants in the "red terror" these actions caused shock. Gaidar was removed from office. He spent some time in a psychiatric hospital.

Amadeus Hoffman

What works come to mind first of all under the name of this famous children's writer? The list of Hoffmann's books is quite extensive, the most famous are "The Golden Pot", "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King", "The Sandman", "Elixirs of Satan". The last work, however, is not targeted at a children's audience.

Amadeus Hoffmann is the most famous German romantic writer. Several ballets have been created based on his works, and many films have been shot. At the same time, Hoffmann, however, like many of his other colleagues, spent most of his life in poverty. All his attempts to make a living through literature led to poverty. Only in last years he managed to improve his financial situation by receiving a small inheritance.

Lev Kassil

The famous Russian children's writer graduated from the Physics and Mathematics Faculty of Moscow State University. As a third-year student, he suddenly experienced an inevitable craving for literary creativity. First of all, this was expressed in the lengthy letters that Cassil regularly sent to his family. Each of his messages was about thirty pages long.

The younger brother took the letters to the local editorial office, where they were happily published, about which the author knew nothing for a long time. When he became aware that his messages had some artistic value (otherwise they would not have been published in the newspaper), he decided to make money by writing literary works... The most famous book by Lev Kassil is "Conduit and Schwambrania".

Rudyard Kipling

The parents of the creator of The Jungle Book dreamed that their beloved son would become an officer. Rudyard himself was not against a military career. However, since childhood he suffered from myopia, and therefore had to take up literary work. Rudyard wrote short stories while still in military school. His real writing career began after several trips to Asia and the United States as a correspondent.

Janusz Korczak

According to one of the Polish musicians who lived in Warsaw at the end thirties, the writer was a remarkably noble man. For many years, Korczak was engaged in literary work, but during his lifetime he was not considered a first-row prose writer. The thing is that his work belonged to a rather specific area.

He wrote only for children and only about children. In his books, you can see a deep knowledge of child psychology. But the main thing, perhaps, was not even how Korczak wrote, but how he lived. He devoted every minute to the children. The teacher did not change this position even in the last hours of his life.

The writer organized several orphanages, collected donations, conducted children's radio programs. In 1940, he ended up in the Warsaw ghetto with his students. Korczak could have avoided death. He was pretty famous person and had the opportunity, with the help of his admirers, to hide on the "Aryan" side. But of course he didn't. In August 1942, about two hundred children were sent to Treblinka. Korczak chose to stay with his students and die in the gas chamber.

Lewis Carroll

The creator of the famous series of books about Alice's adventures was born into the family of a priest. Lewis Carroll, moreover, possessed outstanding mathematical ability. He received his bachelor's degree, then won a competition to give lectures at one of the English universities. Even when it became famous writer, he continued to publish scientific works under his own name. Lewis Carroll's name was actually Charles Lutwidge Dodgson.

Mark Twain

The American novelist, as you know, wrote not only for children. His work covers many genres. This is satire, and philosophical fiction, and journalism. Mark Twain traveled a lot and worked as correspondents for most of his life. The writer had an amazing sense of humor, while he was a sensitive and romantic person. He fell in love with his future wife at first sight. Olivia became disabled after an injury she received in her youth. Twain took care of her for the rest of his life.

Korney Chukovsky

The writer's childhood is known from the autobiographical book "The Silver Coat of Arms". Chukovsky's mother was a servant in the house of a wealthy man named Emmanuel Levenson. She gave birth to him in 1882 year of the boy who later became one of the best Soviet children's writers. The father decided to connect his life with a woman of his circle. The childhood of the future poet and prose writer passed in Odessa. Here he studied for some time at the gymnasium, which he could not graduate from due to his low origin.

Real name writer - Nikolay Korneichukov. In the metric he has, like bastard, there was no middle name. Later he took a pseudonym and added a fictitious middle name. The writer had four children, of which he survived three. He dedicated many poems to his daughter Murochka, who died at the age of 11.

And one more fact from the biography of Korney Chukovsky. His work was highly appreciated by critics and literary figures. He was a laureate of the State Prize. But like no one else he supported talented fellow writers who were in disgrace, and therefore at the end of his life acquired many ill-wishers.

Modern children's writers of Russia of the 21st century and their works have replaced the long-familiar Chukovsky, with his Aibolit, and Nosov, with his beloved Dunno. Some contemporary works are highly controversial. After all, we are accustomed to the fact that children's fairy tales, stories and poems should be kind, in some way instructive and the good should certainly win.

In addition, there are outright graphomaniacs with an unstable psyche, but they have enough funds to publish their collections.

Therefore, it is very important to carefully screen out the literature that falls into the hands of children. After all, it forms their psyche, and suggests the line of their behavior in various situations.

Contemporary children's writers in Russia have moved away from the classic Soviet children's literature and do not always put morality first. And, nevertheless, they manage to convey in a fun and accessible form to children what is “good” and what is “bad”.

Contemporary children's writers in Russia, list:

• Tatyana Bokova (I fell in love on Thursday. Miracles under New Year... Mom, Dad and I.)
• Sergey Georgiev (Fir-trees-sticks: Field Marshal Pulkin. A ball from Australia. Small green frog)
• Arthur Givargizov (Notes of an outstanding poor student. About dragons and policemen.)
• Tamara Kryukova (Shiny galosh from the right leg. Zhenya Moskvichyov and his friends)
• Oleg Kurguzov (Birthday upside down. In the footsteps of Pochemuchka)
• Sergey Sedov (Hercules. 12 great deeds. Eyewitness account.)
• Maria Bershadskaya (Big little girl.)
• Stanislav Vostokov (Do not feed, do not tease ...)
• Arthur Givargizov (From grandfather to child.)
• Maria Aromshtam (When the Angels rest.)

In fact, now there are a lot of children's writers, and only the most famous are listed here. How do people become writers? Most of them are dreamers and inventors who, having become parents themselves, found that their children had nothing to read. Old fairy tales have long been read, and it is better to protect them from some of them. It is difficult to teach children to read when there is a vacuum around, and this is at best. Worse if the child gets stuck in computer games, where his character is not very simple.

Modern children's writers are psychologists, educators and just parents who endlessly love children, their own and others, and they grow up with the children, telling more and more new tales. They know children, and at times, it is children who suggest fairy-tale stories. Only the person who communicates with children on a daily basis can write an exciting story and tear the baby away from the TV with cartoons.

And the influence of the nursery cannot be underestimated fiction on the child's psyche. Books make the child think and conjecture images on their own, which does not happen when watching cartoons.

Parents should be more attentive to their child and choose fairy tales / stories that will be understandable to the child and will be liked by him. After all, he simply does not know that such a fabulous world of literature exists and does not know how to separate good books from the bad ones.

On March 31, 1882, Kornei Ivanovich Chukovsky was born - Russian poet, literary critic, children's writer and journalist. The enthusiasm for children's literature, which made Chukovsky famous, began relatively late, when he was already a famous critic. In 1916, Chukovsky compiled the collection Yolka and wrote his first fairy tale, The Crocodile. In 1923 his famous fairy tales "Moidodyr" and "Cockroach" were published.

Today we want to show you photographs of other children's writers, in addition to the well-known Korney Ivanovich.

Charles Perrault

French poet and critic of the era of classicism, now known mainly as the author of "The Tales of Mother Goose". Charles Perrault was the fourth most published foreign writer in the USSR in 1917-1987: the total circulation of his publications amounted to 60.798 million copies.

Berestov Valentin Dmitrievich

Russian poet and lyricist who wrote for adults and children. He is the author of such children's works as "The Serpent-Braggart", "Mother and Stepmother", "The Stork and the Nightingale", etc.

Marshak Samuil Yakovlevich

Russian Soviet poet, playwright, translator and literary critic. The author of the works "Teremok", "The Cat's House", "Doctor Faust" and others. Almost throughout his literary career, Marshak wrote both poetic feuilletons and serious, "adult" lyrics. In addition, Marshak is the author of the classic translations of William Shakespeare's sonnets. Marshak's books have been translated into many languages \u200b\u200bof the world, and for the translations of Robert Burns Marshak was awarded the title of Honorary Citizen of Scotland.

Mikhalkov Sergey Vladimirovich

In addition to his career as a fabulist and war correspondent, Sergei Vladimirovich is also the author of the texts of hymns Soviet Union and Russian Federation... Among his famous children's works are "Uncle Styopa", "Nightingale and the Crow", "What's yours", "Hare and a turtle", etc.

Hans Christian Andersen

The author of world famous fairy tales for children and adults: The Ugly Duckling, The King's New Dress, Thumbelina, The Steadfast Tin Soldier, The Princess and the Pea, Ole Lukkoye, The Snow Queen and many others.

Agniya Barto

The first husband of Volova was the poet Pavel Barto. Together with him, she wrote three poems - "Roar Girl", "Grimy Girl" and "Counting". During the Great Patriotic War the Barto family was evacuated to Sverdlovsk. There Agnia had to master the profession of a turner. She gave the prize she received during the war to build a tank. In 1944, the family returned to Moscow.

Nosov Nikolay Nikolaevich

The 1952 Stalin Prize winner of the third degree, Nikolai Nosov, is best known as a children's writer. Here is the author of works about Dunno.

Moshkovskaya Emma Efraimovna

At the beginning of its creative path Emma received approval from Samuel Marshak himself. In 1962 she released the first collection of poems for children "Uncle Shar", which was followed by more than 20 collections of poems and fairy tales for preschool and junior school age... It is also worth noting that many Soviet composers wrote songs on the verses of Moshkovskaya.

Lunin Victor Vladimirovich

Poems and fairy tales Viktor Lunin began to compose at school, but he entered the path of a professional writer much later. The first publications of poetry in periodicals appeared in the early 70s ( the writer himself was born in 1945). Viktor Vladimirovich has published more than thirty books of poetry and prose. His poetic "Az-bu-ka" for children became the standard for the transmission of letter sound writing, and his book "Children's Album" was awarded a diploma at the 3rd All-Russian Children's Book Competition "Father's House" in 1996. For the Children's Album, Viktor Lunin was awarded the title of laureate of the Murzilka magazine literary prize in the same year. In 1997, his fairy tale "The Adventures of Sweet Lisa" was awarded as the best fairy tale about cats by the library of foreign literature.

Oseeva Valentina Alexandrovna

In 1937, Valentina Aleksandrovna brought her first story "Grishka" to the editorial office, and in 1940 her first book, "The Red Cat", was published. Then they wrote collections of stories for children "Babka", "The Magic Word", "Father's Jacket", "My Comrade", a book of poems "Hedgehog", the story "Vasyok Trubachev and his comrades", "Dinka" and "Dinka says goodbye to childhood "With autobiographical roots.

The Brothers Grimm

The Brothers Grimm published several anthologies titled Tales by the Brothers Grimm, which became very popular. Among their fairy tales are: "Snow White", "The Wolf and the Seven Kids", "The Bremen Town Musicians", "Hansel and Gretel", "Little Red Riding Hood" and many others.

Fyodor Ivanovich Tyutchev

Contemporaries noted his brilliant mind, humor, talent of the interlocutor. His epigrams, witticisms and aphorisms were on everyone's lips. Tyutchev's fame was confirmed by many - Turgenev, Fet, Druzhinin, Aksakov, Grigoriev and others. Leo Tolstoy called Tyutchev "one of those unfortunate people who are immeasurably higher than the crowd among which they live, and therefore are always alone."

Alexey Nikolaevich Pleshcheev

In 1846, the very first collection of poems made Pleshcheev famous among the revolutionary youth. Three years later he was arrested and sent into exile, where he spent on military service almost ten years. Upon his return from exile, Pleshcheev continued literary activity; after going through years of poverty and hardship, he became an authoritative writer, critic, publisher, and at the end of his life and a patron of the arts. Many of the poet's works (especially poems for children) have become textbooks, are considered classics. More than a hundred romances have been written to Pleshcheev's poems by the most famous Russian composers.

Eduard Nikolaevich Uspensky

You don't need to introduce this person. This will be done by the characters of his works, including Crocodile Gena and Cheburashka, the cat Matroskin, Uncle Fyodor, the postman Pechkin and others.

Reading time: 8 min

Poets and writers for some are crazy geniuses, for others they do not represent anything special, but only get bored in schools with their poems, stories and biographies. But some do not even realize how many people are interesting outside of their creativity. How about the most unusual and unknown interesting facts about writers and poets?

Punch and Pushkin, Punch - and a puffy foam pipe

A.S. Pushkin is "our everything", I hope everyone remembers this. The line “let's drink from grief; where is the mug? " - these words are partly true, although the most favorite drink was sweet lemonade!

In the process of creating a work, the writer supported himself not with a cup of coffee or a glass of wine, but with a glass of lemonade, especially the poet loved him at night.

Surprisingly, before the duel with Dantes, Pushkin went into the pastry shop and drank a glass of aromatic lemonade with great pleasure.

Gogol's eccentricities

Oh, how many myths are circulating around the author of the famous "Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka." Contemporaries confirmed some of the writer's oddities. Gogol slept while sitting, loved to do needlework (sewed scarves and vests), wrote all his ingenious works only while standing!

For example, as a child I loved to roll bread balls, for which I usually received a hand. And Gogol calmed his nerves by rolling balls all his life! Nikolai Berg, recalling the writer, said that Gogol constantly walked from corner to corner or wrote, at the same time rolling balls of bread (namely wheat). And the writer tossed rolled balls into kvass to his friends!

Chekhov's amazing habits

But Chekhov, calming the nerves, did not roll the balls, but with a hammer smashed the crushed stone into dust, which was then used to sprinkle the garden paths. The writer could spend hours, without being distracted, breaking the rubble!

Deep psychologist Dostoevsky

By the way, the characters of all the characters in Dostoevsky's works were sketched from real people... Dostoevsky constantly made new acquaintances, began a conversation even with casual passers-by.

Contemporaries note that when a writer immersed himself in writing works, he was so carried away that he forgot to eat. He walked around the room all day, saying sentences aloud. Once, while writing a famous novel, Dostoevsky wandered from corner to corner and talked with himself about Raskolnikov's attitude to the old woman-pawnbroker and his motive. The footman got scared, accidentally overhearing the conversation, and decided that Dostoevsky was going to kill someone.

Religious philosopher Leo Tolstoy

Here you can make a huge list of the eccentricities and oddities of the author of "Anna Karenina", "War and Peace" and much, much more.

Firstly, being an 82-year-old man, he ran away from his wonderful wife, who could spend hours copying his works into a clean copy. And all because of the mismatch of views, which showed up only at the 48th year of marriage.

Secondly, Leo Tolstoy was a vegetarian. Thirdly, the writer lost the family estate at cards. Fourthly, Leo Tolstoy denied all material wealth, constantly communicated with peasants and appreciated physical labor. The writer himself said that if he didn't work at least a little in the yard a day, he would be very irritable. He also loved to do needlework, especially to sew boots for relatives, friends and even unfamiliar people.

Vladimir Nabokov and his butterflies

Entomology is a huge passion for Nabokov, he could run for hours around the neighborhood in search of beautiful butterflies.

One of the funniest photographs of Nabokov with a butterfly net. But anyway main love for Nabokov, the craft of writing remained. The author's principle of writing texts is interesting. The works were written on 3 "by 5" cards, from which the book was then created. The cards were supposed to have pointed ends, straight lines and an elastic band.

Mystical letters by Evgeny Petrov (Kataev)

The main hobby of the co-author of the satirical works "Twelve Chairs", "The Golden Calf", etc. there was stamp collecting, but even here it is not so simple. Petrov sent letters to invented addresses to cities that did not exist on the world map. First, he chose a real country, and then fantasized what city he lacked, who would live there, etc. You ask: why did he do it?

After long travels around the world, the letter came back, crowned with numerous stamps marked "Addressee not found." But once Petrov received an answer from New Zealand, everything coincided: the address, the name, and even the situation described by the Russian writer. Petrov wrote in a letter that he condoles about the death of a certain Uncle Pete, asked how his wife and daughter were doing. The addressee replied that he misses Petrov, recalls the days spent with him in New Zealand, his wife and daughter also say hello and hope to see you soon. You would think that someone was joking, but the interlocutor attached a photo that showed a large man hugging Petrov!

The poor satirist was so agitated that he ended up in the hospital with pneumonia. He did not know at all what kind of person he was in the photo and had never been to New Zealand! This story was put into the plot of the 2012 film "The Envelope".