Sokolov-Mikitov, Ivan

Born May 17 (29), 1892, in the locality of Oseki, near Kaluga; died Feb. 20, 1975, in Moscow. Soviet Russian writer.

Sokolov-Mikitov began his literary career in 1916. His prose works, written in the genres of the realistic short story and the travel sketch, are marked by an attentiveness to nature and the working man and by simple and expressive language, exemplified in his books On the Nevestnitsa River (1928), Sky Blue Days (1928), Lenkoran (1934), The Routes of the Ships (1934), and Northern Stories (1939). His most important works were Chizhikova Lavra (1926), a novella about Russian émigrés, and the autobiographical novella Childhood (1931–53). Sokolov-Mikitov also published books of short stories and fairy tales for children, as well as memoirs. His works have been translated into foreign languages. Sokolov-Mikitov was awarded three orders.