Ketlinskaia, Vera

Born Apr. 28 (May 11), 1906, in Sevastopol’. Soviet Russian writer. Member of the CPSU since 1927.

The daughter of a naval officer, Ketlinskaia worked in a factory in her youth and was active in both Komsomol and party work. She began to publish in 1928. Ketlinskaia’s works, notably the novella Natka Michurina (1929) and the novels Growth (1934) and Days of Our Life (1952), deal primarily with the working class and young workers. Among her most important works are the novels Courage (1938), depicting the heroic labor of the builders of a city on the Amur River, and It’s Not Worth Living Any Other Way (1960), portraying young scientific innovators.

Ketlinskaia took part in the heroic defense of Leningrad, which she described in the novel Under Siege (1947; State Prize of the USSR, 1948). In 1964 she published the collection of short stories A Day Twice Lived Through, which included the novella Plateau Above the Clouds; and her memoirs, Evening, Windows, People, appeared in 1972. Her works portray sharp conflicts and deal with topical themes; the writer loves and can skillfully depict labor and people at work. Ketlinskaia has been awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor and several medals.