Bianki V.V. (1894-1959), writer

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BIANKI Vitaly Valentinovich (1894, St. Petersburg - 1959, Leningrad), prose writer. He studied at Natural Sciences Department of Physics and Mathematics Faculty of Petrograd University (did not finish), from where he was drafted into the army in 1916; he served in the 1st Artillery Brigade at Tsarskoe Selo. From 1923 he was a professional children’s writer-naturalist, wrote for Chizh and Yezh and others. Lesnaya Gazeta na Kazhdy God - a kind of nature study encyclopedia for children (as a separate edition - 1928) was the most popular. Bianki was the first to combine scientific, artistic and folk approaches in stories about nature; his favourite genre fable - not fairy tale. Forest True and Fable Stories were published in 1957, Columbuses' Club, in 1959. He also wrote for adults. In 1925 he was arrested as a former member of socialist-revolutionary Party and was expelled to Uralsk, in 1929 returned to Leningrad. He was arrested for short periods on two occasions - in 1932 and 1935. From 1924 he lived at 58 the Third Line of Vasilievsky Island (memorial plaque). He was buried at Bogoslovskoe Cemetery.

References: Гроденский Г. П. Виталий Бианки: Критико-биогр. очерк. 2-е испр. и доп. изд. М., 1966; Жизнь и творчество Виталия Бианки. Л., 1967.

M. V. Zakharova. Bianki Vitaly Valentinovich
3d Line of Vasilievsky Island/Saint Petersburg, city, house 58
Гроденский Г. П. Виталий Бианки: Критико-биогр. очерк. 2-е испр. и доп. изд. М., 1966
Жизнь и творчество Виталия Бианки. Л., 1967 Chiz and Yezh (Siska and Hedgehog), journals
Bogoslovskoe Cemetery