Vladislav Krapivin: Russia ⋆ Author

"Childhood is like a fairy tale that can be told every time in a new way. The essence always remains: the happiness of discovering the world, the joy of friendship and the feeling of the bright blue sky."

Vladislav Krapivin

Born Tuymen, Siberia in 1938, Vladislav Krapivin is the son of teachers. He studied journalism at Ural State University before working for newspapers and magazines. Krapivin published his first books of short stories in 1962 and has worked as a writer since then. In 2007, he was appointed professor at Tyumen State University where he teaches literature and creative writing. For over 30 years Vladislav Krapivin has served as the Commodore of the Caravel, a special unit of the Sea Scouts established by him, where young people learn the skills of reporting news and seamanship.

Many of his stories have been made into films and television programs, including Lullaby for the Brother in 1982. There are over 150 editions of Krapivin's works, including sixty cycles of realistic and fantastic narratives, tales and short stories, eleven novels, twenty-five plays, and five collections of poetry. The most complete edition of his selected works consists of thirty-five volumes. His work has been translated into more than a dozen different languages. Krapivin's books have been included in the "Golden Library of Selected Works for Children and Youth," and two volumes of the Japanese series "Selected Works for Teenagers" are devoted to Krapivin's stories. He has published numerous pedagogical essays, popular and scholarly. To reflect the importance of his work, in 2011 the Vladislav Krapivin Museum opened at the Literary and Ethnography centre in his native Tyumen, and the Ural Writers Association established the International Children Literature Award of Vladislav Krapivin in 2006.

Over the years, Krapivin has influenced millions of readers, in Russia and beyond. He is known for his able blending of realism and fantasy, and for finely tuning the psychological novel for young adults. For decades now, his work has reflected the social, psychological, and pedagogical problems of his homeland, and he has traced the interactions of social commentary and patriotism. For Krapivin childhood is not only a period of preparation for adult life but is an important part of life on the whole.