Iurii Markovich Nagibin

Born Apr. 3, 1920, in Mos cow. Soviet Russian writer. Fought in the Great Patriotic War of 1941–45.

The son of an office worker, Nagibin studied at the script-writing department of the All-Union State Institute of Cinematography (1939–42). His works have been published since 1940. Nagibin’s first collections of short stories were A Man From the Front (1943) and A Big Heart (1944). These were followed by the collections of short stories and novellas Winter Oak (1955), Before the Holiday (1960), In Early Spring (1961), The Chase: Meshchera True Stories (1963), The Far and the Near (1965), Don’t Let Him Perish (1968), The Heart of Another (1969), and The Bystreets of My Childhood (1971). Nagibin’s books deal with war and labor, childhood reminiscences, and meetings with eminent foreigners; they also deal with the fate of his contemporaries and with the notables of the Russian art world. His works are distinguished for their dramatic conflicts, lyrical perception of the world, and precise details.

Nagibin is the author of essays about literature and the motion pictures, for example, his Meditations on the Short Story (1964). He has also written film scenarios based on his own works. His novella Pages From Trubnikov’s Life (1963) was adapted for the film The Chairman (1965). Nagibin’s works have been translated into many foreign languages as well as into the languages of the peoples of the USSR. He has been awarded two orders and a number of medals.