Alexander Georgievich Malyshkin

Alexander Georgievich Malyshkin – a Russian Soviet writer, a classic of socialist realism. He was born on March 9 (21), 1892, in the village of Bogorodskoe in the Penza Governorate into a peasant family. Malyshkin's childhood was spent in the county town of Mokshan, where his family moved a few years after his birth. In 1916 Malyshkin graduated from the Faculty of Philology of Petrograd University. While still a student, he wrote realistic stories about life in a county town. After university he was drafted into the army. Malyshkin received the rank of praporshchik (ensign) and served in Sevastopol with the Black Sea Fleet.

Participation in the Civil War (1918–1920) on the Eastern, Turkestan and Southern fronts, including operations to liberate Crimea, became a significant episode in his life. In 1922 Malyshkin moved to Moscow, where he worked at the newspaper "Krasnaya Zvezda" and at the Military Academy. In 1923 the novella "The Fall of Dair", which tells of the capture of Crimea, was published and brought him recognition. From 1928 Malyshkin was a member of the editorial board of the journal "Novy Mir" and assisted beginning writers. In the 1930s he worked on the novel "People from the Backwoods", reflecting the complex changes in the country, and published it shortly before his death. At the end of January 1938 the writer came to Penza to collect materials "about the new industrial Penza" and intended to write a play for the Penza theatre, but on August 3 news of his death arrived.  His collection "Stories, Sketches, Film Scripts" was published in Penza in 1950. Malyshkin's works have been translated into many languages, and streets in Penza and Mokshan are named after him.