Lev Kassil is a well-known children's writer, laureate of the USSR State Prize and the Stalin Prize, an avid fan of football and skiing, an enthusiastic childhood researcher who created incredible countries such as Swagranium, Jungahore and Synegoria on the pages of his books.
Childhood and youth
Leo was born in the Saratov region in the family of a doctor and music teacher in 1905, on June 27 according to the old calendar. Of course, the home education of a boy from an intelligent family perfectly complemented the classical school knowledge. Having entered the gymnasium before the October Revolution, he graduated from it, only now renamed the "Labor School", in 1923.
The native city of Leo was Pokrovskaya Sloboda, to which the revolution gave a new name - Engels. Here, during school years, the future famous writer collaborated with the library, publishing a manuscript journal for little schoolchildren.
After graduating from school, Kassil left for the capital, where he studied at Moscow State University for three courses. It was then that the famous “Moscow Records” were born - unable to cope with the thirst to write, the young man scribbled home voluminous letters, telling about everything that he saw in Moscow. About houses, about people, about traditions and parks. And at home, Oska's younger brother carried these sketches to the local newspaper, receiving a small fee for his beautiful essays about the capital.
By the way, years later, in 1937, Leo’s brother Joseph was repressed and executed, and his widow and his children were sent to Dzhezkazgan.
Writing career
Like many colleagues, Lev Abramovich Kassil began by writing simple articles in various magazines and newspapers. Then serious feuilletons and journalistic investigations began to come out from under his pen, he collaborated with Mayakovsky, described the whole Schmidt epic and devoted much effort to scientific achievements and great travelers.
But most of all, the young author gravitated to children's literature. In the 30s, the legendary autobiographical Conduit and Shvambraniya appeared, in 1938 the Goalkeeper of the Republic about a boy who became a football legend, and in 1941 Kassil became an editor in the Soviet children's magazine Murzilka. He spoke on the radio, wrote books about the wonderful (and scientific!) Adventures of boys and girls, spent holidays in the House of Unions, the children recognized him on the streets, and he was going to devote his whole life to them.
But World War II confused the literary plans of a talented guy. He had considerable experience as a war correspondent and often spoke on the radio and in factories, telling people about the horrors of war and raising their morale. After the victory, he became the head of the department of children's literature at the Gorky Institute and one of the leading writers for the pioneer organization. Until his death, Kassil organized many festivals and seminars for children and wrote wonderful books for them, filled with exciting adventures and scripts for films.
