Zamoiskii, Petr Ivanovich

(pseudonym of P. I. Zavalkin). Born June 13 (25), 1896, in the village of Sobolevka, present-day Penza Oblast; died July 21, 1958, in Moscow. Soviet Russian writer. Member of the CPSU from 1918.

Zamoiskii studied at the V. la. Briusov Higher Art and Literature Institute at Moscow State University. He was one of the leaders of the All-Russian Union of Peasant Writers. His first work was published in 1921; his stories dealing with peasant life are included in the collections The Master’s Lash (1925), Two Truths (1932),, and Morning (1937). Zamoiskii’s most important work, the novel Bast Sandals (books 1–4, 1929–36) focuses on rural Russia during the years of the New Economic Policy and collectivization. Later Zamoiskii wrote an autobiographical trilogy of novellas entitled The Herds boy (1939), Youth (1946), and Sunrise (1957). He was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor and various medals.