Ivan Dmitrievich Vasilenko

Vasilenko Ivan Dmitrievich — a classic of national children's literature of the 20th century, laureate of the USSR State Prize (3rd degree). He was awarded the Order of the Badge of Honour and medals. Ivan Vasilenko was born into the family of a volost clerk. After his family moved to Taganrog, he graduated from the city school with honors and received the qualification of a primary school teacher. He worked as a teacher at the school of the Novo-Bessergenevka khutor. He enrolled in the Belgorod Teachers' Institute, but was soon expelled for participating in a Marxist circle. Later he worked as an accountant at the Taganrog Land Bank.

 

Until 1917 Ivan Vasilenko actively participated in the revolutionary movement; in 1920 he became a member of the RCP. After the revolution he devoted himself to public work: from 1917 to 1922 he worked in trade unions, and then returned to teaching. At the age of 39, while seriously ill with tuberculosis, he began to write. In 1938 he made his literary debut — the short story "The Magic Box" was published in the magazine "Pioneer". During the Great Patriotic War Vasilenko worked in the army press; in those years he also wrote several novellas and stories for children ("A Life Plan", "The Commander's Order", "Living Water", "The Story of the Little Green Chest", etc.). Ivan Vasilenko died on May 26, 1966 in Moscow and was buried in the old city cemetery in Taganrog.