Nikolai Nosov

Born Nov. 10 (23), 1908, in Kiev; died July 26, 1976, in Moscow. Soviet Russian writer.

Nosov graduated from the State Institute of Cinematography in 1932. From 1932 to 1951 he worked as a film director. He was a participant in the Great Patriotic War of 1941–45.

Nosov made his literary debut in 1938. He is the author of children’s books, including the novella Vitia Maleev in School and at Home (1951; State Prize of the USSR, 1952; film, Two Friends, 1955); a cycle of humorous short stories The Dreamers (1957; film of the same title, 1966); and the trilogy comprising The Adventures of Neznaika and His Friends (1954), Neznaika in the Sunny City (1958), and Neznaika on the Moon (1964–65; N. K. Krupskaia State Prize of the RSFSR, 1970). The trilogy is a mixture of novel and fairy tale, with elements of science fiction and political satire. In humorous and playful prose, Nosov’s ideas on pedagogy and the theory of knowledge are newly interpreted through the psychology of an inquisitive and funny little boy. In 1972, Nosov published Tale of My Friend Igor’, which is about the character formation of a preschool child. Some of his works have been adapted for the stage and translated into foreign languages. He was awarded two orders and various medals.