Peasant literature

He was born on June 27, 1948 in the village of Variogan in the Surgut (now Nizhnevartovsk) district. He began his career in 1966 as a worker at the Variogan branch of the Surgut Cooperative Industrial Enterprise.

In 1971 he graduated from the Khanty-Mansiysk Pedagogical College, in 1975 — the Gorky Literary Institute in Moscow. Since 1978, Aipin has been the editor of the district scientific and methodological center of folk art in Khanty-Mansiysk. He worked a lot on the folklore of Khanty, often went on ethnographic expeditions.

Since 1987, he has been a deputy of the Council of People’s Deputies of the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug. From 2001 to the present — Deputy of the Duma of the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug, Deputy Chairman of the Duma — Chairman of the Assembly of Representatives of Indigenous Peoples of the North.

In his work, Yeremey Aipin raises issues of morality and social justice that concern not only his people, but also all the peoples of our country.

Laureate of the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug Governor’s Award in the field of literature, the international literary award "Yugra", the All-Russian literary Award named after D. N. Mamin-Sibiryak, the Khanty—Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug — Yugra Award "For outstanding contribution to the socio-economic development of the Autonomous Okrug" (2018).

Awarded the Order of Honor (2021), medal of the Order of Merit for the Fatherland I (2006) and II degree (2000), badges "For excellent work", "For Services to the district" (2007), "For contribution to the development of legislation" (2008).

He was born on January 27, 1879 in the working settlement of the Sysertsky plant near Yekaterinburg. In 1893 he graduated from the Yekaterinburg Theological College, and in 1899 from the Perm Theological Seminary. In 1899−1907 he taught Russian and a number of other subjects at the Yekaterinburg Theological College, in 1907−1914 — at the Yekaterinburg Women’s Diocesan College. In 1914−1917 he was a teacher of the Russian language at the Kamyshlov Theological College (Perm province). In 1917. Pavel Bazhov was elected a member of the Kamyshlov Council of Peasant, Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies. At the end of 1917 He joined the Red Army as a volunteer, in 1918 he became a member of the RCP (b). He was a participant in the battles in the Urals during the Civil War.

In 1939 Pavel Bazhov joined the Union of Writers of the USSR. In the same year, he published a collection of fairy tales "The Malachite Box", which brought the author wide fame. Bazhov became famous as the author of fairy tales based on Ural folklore. The tales about the Mistress of the Copper Mountain, Daniel the Master and other characters were very popular with readers. In these stories Bazhov combined fairy-tale plots with descriptions of the real life of the miners, which he had known since childhood. Pavel Bazhov’s works have been translated into English, French, Icelandic, Serbian, Japanese and other languages. Feature films have been made based on his works.

In the last years of his life, Pavel Bazhov was a member of the supreme body of Soviet power — the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. As a deputy, he helped the collective farms to conduct electricity, defended the rights of workers. The novelist also headed the Sverdlovsk branch of the USSR Writers' Union, was the editor of the almanac "Ural Contemporary".

Pavel Petrovich Bazhov died on December 3, 1950 in Moscow at the age of 72. He was buried at the Ivanovo Cemetery in Yekaterinburg.

He was born on December 6, 1936 in Ishim. In 1942−1951 he lived in the village of Bezrukovo (now Yershovo) Ishim district. In 1958, he graduated from the Kiev Military Medical School, and in 1964 from the Omsk Medical Institute. During his student years, the first poems of Anatoly Vasiliev were published. Since 1964, he has served in the army. In 1974 he graduated from the Political Science Faculty of the Military University, in 1968−1987 he taught at the military Department of the Tyumen Medical Institute. Candidate of Medical Sciences, Associate Professor, Lieutenant Colonel of the reserve.

He was published in many magazines and newspapers. In 1963, Vasiliev’s first book "Under One Sky" was published. He is the author of collections of poems "By Your Paths" (1965), "Tomorrow it will Snow" (1971), "Early World" (1977), "Mid-October" (1979), "For the Sake of the Past and the Future" (1988), "Evening Birds" (1999), "I am a Distant Satellite" (2000) and others.

He dedicated the genre of historical prose to the Decembrists: "Please, my Lord…" (1986), "With the hope of being useful to Russia…" (1994). These works were included in a large prose book "With the hope of being useful to Russia" (Tyumen, 2000).

In 1987, he was admitted to the Union of Writers of the USSR. He is the Laureate of the regional literary prize named after I.M. Ermakov (1987).

In 1988, Anatoly Vasiliev created and headed the department of the Russian Cultural Foundation in Tyumen. He was the initiator of the publication of a number of magazines: "Siberian Tract", "Cossack outpost". Since 1999 — editor-in-chief of the almanac "Gates of Siberia".

In 1999, Anatoly Ivanovich Vasiliev was awarded the title of "Honored Worker of Culture". From December 2004 to December 2006, he was elected Executive Secretary of the Tyumen Regional Writers' Organization. In 2007−2008, a three-volume collection of selected works by Anatoly Ivanovich Vasiliev was published. He died in Tyumen on September 8, 2018.

He was born on January 3, 1939 in Berezovo, Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug. He started working early as a loader, a driver, a tractor driver, a diver. He served in the Navy (on torpedo boats), wrote in the naval newspapers "Pacific" and "Combat Watch". After demobilization, he worked for Tyumen Pravda for more than ten years. The first essay book "On the Crest of a Wave" was published in 1970. It was followed by a book of essays "The Ring of Samotlor" and collections of short stories "When Iron Sings" (1976), "Smoke over someone else’s Roof" (1984).

The origins of Boris Galyazimov’s work should be sought in the history of the Tyumen Region and his own life. An essayist, publicist, poet (author of three poetry collections), he is still better known as a local historian. His "Legends of the Grey Irtysh" were highly appreciated by historians, visited international exhibitions in Moscow and Budapest. Galyazimov became one of the first laureates of the Ural Pathfinder magazine and was awarded the Honorary Pathfinder badge.

Another theme that is present in both his books and magazine publications is the sea. After a series of his publications, one of the Russian submarines was named the Tyumen Komsomolets, and the region took over its patronage: the crew was manned by Tyumen residents. Galyazimov was a tireless storyteller. In his soul, he kept memories of trips to forty countries, meetings with astronauts, artists, scientists, writers, poets. He was widely known as a Russian-speaking writer representing the Tatar population of the region. He died in Tyumen on March 29, 2009.

Ivan Mikhailovich Ermakov was born in the village of Mikhaylovka, Kazan district, Tyumen region, into a large peasant family. In 1939, after graduating from seven years of school, he moved to Omsk, where he entered the creative studio at the regional drama theater. During this period, he worked as an actor-puppeteer in the Omsk Puppet Theater.

After graduating from the Omsk Infantry School in March 1943, Ermakov was sent to the front as a commander of a rifle platoon. He fought on the Volkhov and Leningrad fronts, was wounded twice. He was awarded the Order of the Red Star. He finished the war in Estonia, served in the internal troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Estonia in 1945−1947. In 1951 he returned to the Tyumen region. In 1953 he graduated from the Tobolsk Cultural and Educational School. He worked as the head of the village club, then — the House of Culture.

Since 1962 he was a member of the USSR Writers' Union.

Ivan Mikhailovich also worked in the genres of essay, short story, and novella, but his creative success came in the genre of fairy tale, which became established in Russian literature after the publication of Pavel Bazhov’s book "The Malachite Casket" in 1939. Ermakov’s first fairy tale "Sokolkova Brigade" was published in the newspaper "Tyumenskaya Pravda", and then reprinted in the magazine "Siberian Lights" in 1956. In 1961, Ermakov’s first collection, "The Goddess in the Overcoat", which included seven tales, was published. In 1973, the Central Ural Book Publishing House published a collection of selected fairy tales "A village stands between the forests", which included 16 works. The most complete edition of Ivan Mikhailovich’s tales was the volume "Teach Me, Blacksmiths" (series "Ural Library"), published in 1984 in Sverdlovsk.

Ivan Mikhailovich died on June 20, 1974 in Tyumen.

Pyotr Pavlovich was born on February 22 (March 5), 1815 in the village of Bezrukovo near Ishim. He was obsessed with seizures, during which he could scream incessantly for hours. The parents, fearing to lose the child, according to an ancient custom, sold him for a penny to a beggar in order to sell the disease, which, according to legend, the beggar took with him. And the child really stopped hurting.

Father Pavel Alekseevich Ershov was a police official, mother Efimiya Vasilyevna, belonged to the family of Tobolsk merchants Pilenkov. The parents of the future poet were unhappy, all their children, except for their son Nicholas, born in 1813, and Peter, died one after the other as soon as they were born. When the family moved to Berezovo, the brothers began to study at the county school. Then the parents assigned the Ershov brothers to the Tobolsk district school. They studied well, and upon graduation, Pyotr Yershov was awarded the "New Testament", on the 1st sheet of which the inscription was made: "Presented at the open trial of the Tobolsk district School to a 2nd grade student Pyotr Yershov for excellent good achievements in science, good morals and diligence."

In 1827, Yershov entered the Tobolsk provincial Gymnasium, the director of which was I.P. Mendeleev, the father of D.I. Mendeleev. He held literary Sundays in the gymnasium, where the students practiced reciting Russian, French and German authors, and reading their own works. After graduating from the gymnasium with honors, he went to St. Petersburg, where he entered the university.

At the age of 19, he became famous as the author of the fairy tale "The Hunchback Horse". Pushkin highly appreciated this work, saying the following: "Now you can leave this kind of writing to me." In 1836, after almost 6 years of separation, Ershov returned to Tobolsk. Initially, he worked as a teacher, and then as an inspector and director of a gymnasium. He was married three times: Serafima Alexandrovna Leshcheva, Olympiada Vasilyevna Kuzmina, Elena Nikolaevna Cherkasova. He resigned in 1862. In recent years, he lived in the house of the merchant Tokarev, since he did not have his own house. He died on August 18 (August 31), 1869. The funeral was held with a large crowd of people, the beloved author of "The Humpbacked Horse" was accompanied by the whole city. His coffin was strewn with autumn asters.

In addition to the famous fairy tale, Pyotr Pavlovich wrote hundreds of poems, poems (for example, "Suzge"), plays for the Tobolsk Theater and short stories.

He was born on February 7, 1917, in the village of Muzhi of the Berezovsky district of the Tobolsk province in the family of a Komi fisherman. His parents dreamed that Ivan, like his father, would become a fisherman. At the age of three, he caught a cold, became seriously ill and suffered from polio. After this illness, he remained permanently disabled. The future novelist graduated from a seven-year school in 1934. After he entered the Salekhard native Pedagogical College, and in 1938 he received a diploma with honors. During his studies, Istomin’s first poem "Autumn" was published in the newspaper Krasny Sever. Ivan was fond of drawing, edited the handwritten magazine "Sparks of Yamal". After graduating from pedagogical college, he taught Russian and Nenets languages, graphics and drawing at the Salekhard Political and Educational School. He worked as a teacher in the village. Yamgort, was in charge of the educational department at the trade cooperative school. Since 1950 Ivan Grigoryevich became a professional journalist, worked in the newspaper Naryana Ngerm, which was published in the Nenets language, then in the Red North. In the 1950s, collections of poems "Beloved North", "Children of the Tundra" (Nenets language), the book "Happy Fate" appeared — a collection of short stories and novellas. In 1955, he was admitted to the Union of Writers of the USSR.

In 1959, he moved to Tyumen, where he joined the position of editor of the national department at the Tyumen Book Publishing House, which produced literature in the language of the peoples of the North. The book "The First Swallows" is dedicated to the student years — this is how Ivan Grigoryevich affectionately called classmates at the pedagogical college. The story "Get up-grass" is a story about the difficult fate of the boy Ilka, the prototype of which is the author himself. The writer’s largest work, the autobiographical novel Zhivun (1974), tells about the history and inhabitants of the author’s native village. He influenced the formation of prose writers and poets L. Laptsuya, P. Saltykova, M. Shulgin, R. Rugina. He died in Tyumen on July 27, 1988.

The museum of the village of Muzhi has a permanent exhibition about the life and work of Ivan Istomin. His paintings are kept in the Salekhard Museum. To mark the writer’s centenary, his books have been republished in Braille. An art object has been created in memory of Ivan Grigoryevich in the Tyumen microdistrict Yamalsky. The layout of the drawing belongs to the Muzhev artist Vladimir Anufriev.

Anna Mitrofanovna Konkova, a Mansi storyteller and writer, who made a significant contribution to the development of the Ob-Ugric culture with her work.

She was born on July 28, 1916 in the village of Evre in the Kondinsky district of the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug. Her career began in 1937 after graduating from the Khanty-Mansiysk Pedagogical College in the national schools of the Berezovsky district, and then in a nomadic school on Lake Pyzhyan in the Khanty-Mansiysk district. In 1946, she moved to Khanty-Mansiysk. She worked in kindergartens and schools in the city. She has given more than thirty years to children.

After retiring in 1967, Anna Mitrofanovna seriously engaged in literary work. She communicated a lot with writers, ethnographers, folklorists, scientists from Estonia, Hungary, Germany, France, and England. Her home has always been associated with the hospitality of the hostess. Not only people related to literary work liked to visit there. This world attracted many people.

Since 1976, Anna Mitrofanovna’s fairy tales have been actively published in the district newspaper Leninskaya Pravda. In 1981, the fairy tales were published in the collection "Fire-stone", published in Sverdlovsk. In 1982, the first novel in Mansi literature "And the moons of the Slow Stream" was published, written by Anna Mitrofanovna in collaboration with the Tyumen prose writer G. Sazonov. After that, the book was reprinted two more times — in 1990 and 1994. In 1989, A.M. Konkova was accepted into the USSR Writers' Union.

In 1985, the book "Tales of Grandma Anne" was published in a separate edition. It was a significant event in the author’s life. In 1993, "Tales of Grandma Anne" was republished.

By the 75th anniversary of the writer, a miniature "The Leader of the Ivyr" with illustrations by the artist Gennady Raishev was published, which became a bibliographic rarity immediately after its publication. Anna Mitrofanovna called the last lifetime edition "A Date with childhood" (1996). The works were translated into English, Hungarian, Polish, and Czech.

Anna Mitrofanovna’s talent and work were awarded: the Order of Honor, the title "Honored Cultural Worker of the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug", in 1988 she became the holder of the title "Honorary Citizen of the city of Khanty-Mansiysk".

She died on December 3, 1999, and was buried in Khanty-Mansiysk. In 2000, she was awarded the title of "Honorary Citizen of the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug".

He was born in the village of Staraya Maina, Ulyanovsk region, and soon the family moved to Siberia. The writer spent his childhood in the village of Malozorkaltsevo, Tobolsk district. In 1941, Konstantin graduated from Golyshman secondary school. His career began in July 1941. At first he worked as an educator, then as the director of the Golyshman orphanage, and in the autumn of 1942 he became a professional Komsomol worker and stayed in this capacity for fourteen years. In 1950, he graduated from the History Department of Tyumen University, in 1958 — postgraduate studies at the Tajik University — received the degree of Candidate of Historical Sciences.

Since 1952, he began his literary activity. A number of works were published under the pseudonym K. Golovan. In 1961 he came to Tyumen. He worked as the editor-in-chief of the Tyumen Book Publishing house. In 1959, he was admitted to the Union of Writers of the USSR. In 1963, through his efforts, the Tyumen Regional Writers' Organization was created, which K.Ya. Lagunov headed for twenty years (1963−1983). In 1988, he organized the creation of a journalism department at Tyumen State University, headed the corresponding department. Lagunov was engaged in mentoring and promoting the work of young authors at the University. Konstantin Yakovlevich created the project "Signs of the XX century" with students of the journalism department of TSU in the late 1990s — early 2000s. This literary series consists of ten books that can be called artistic chronicles of their time. He died in Tyumen on July 19, 2001.

Over forty-three years of literary activity, Konstantin Yakovlevich has written and published more than fifty books, including 12 novels, Many of the writer’s works have been translated into foreign languages. The creative range of the writer is amazing: from screenplays to children’s fairy tales. He worked a lot and successfully in the genres of journalism.

He was awarded twice (1954,1967) the Order of the Badge of Honor (1954), the Order of Friendship of Peoples (1967). Honored Worker of Culture of the RSFSR (1995). Honorary citizen of the city of Tyumen (1994).

He was born on February 28, 1929 in a camp in the Yamal tundra near the village of Novy Port in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug. One of the most favorite childhood hobbies of the future writer was folk songs, legends, which were sung in the chums by Nenets storytellers. After his father’s death in 1939, he remained the only breadwinner in the family. To feed his mother and younger brothers, he worked on an equal basis with adults at the Krasny Rybak collective farm from the age of ten.

In 1951, he graduated from the Novoportovsk seven-year boarding school, entered the Salekhard Medical School with a degree in paramedic. In the early days of his studies, Leonid met Ivan Grigoryevich Istomin, editor of the Nenets-language page of the Nyaryana Ngerm editorial office of the district newspaper Krasny Sever. Later, he got a job at this newspaper as a translator and freelance correspondent. Having come under the influence of I.G. Istomin, Laptsui began to write poems and short stories (later he would dedicate a poem to Istomin — "Iri"). In 1952 Laptsui showed Istomin his first story "In the Snow of the Pestovs", which was highly appreciated. After graduating from college in 1954, he was sent to the Central Komsomol School under the Central Committee of the Komsomol in Moscow. In 1960 Leonid Vasilyevich joined the Union of Journalists of the USSR. At that time, his first book of poetry "Bloom my Yamal!" was published in the Tyumen Book Publishing House in the Nenets language, at that time he studied at the Higher Party School in Sverdlovsk. In 1964, he was admitted to the Union of Writers of the USSR. From 1964 to 1968, he worked as an instructor in the propaganda and agitation department of the district Committee of the CPSU. He was an instructor at the organizational department of the Yamalo-Nenets Regional Executive Committee in 1968−1974. In the 1970s, three poetry collections "Blue Snows", "Tundra", "Iri", and the poem "Edeyka" were published in various publications of the Soviet Union. In 1974−1982. The writer headed the district newspaper "Nyaryana Ngerm" ("Red North"). In 1981, Leonid Vasilyevich was awarded the title of "Honored Worker of Culture of the RSFSR". He died in Salekhard on February 14, 1982. In the same year, Leonid Vasilyevich Laptsui was named after the Salekhard Inter-district School of Culture and Arts.

More than 30 of his books in Russian and Nenets have been published in various publishing houses of the country. The works have been translated into foreign languages and the languages of the peoples of the Soviet Union. On January 1, 1994, an apartment museum named after the writer was opened in Salekhard. On November 25, 2015, the Novoportovsk boarding school was named after Leonid Vasilyevich Laptsui.

She was born on February 15, 1951 in the village of Laborovaya in the Priuralsky district of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug of the Tyumen Region. In 1970, she graduated from a boarding school in the village of Aksarka in the Priuralsky district and entered the geological exploration faculty of the Tyumen Industrial Institute (at that time the only student at the university). For health reasons, she completed only two courses. While studying at the institute, she began writing poetry.

In 1972, she met the chairman of the Tyumen regional writers' organization K. Ya. Lagunov. Sensing an outstanding, original talent in the young Nenka, Konstantin Yakovlevich took her under his care — mentored her in creativity, supported her in difficult life situations: helped with treatment, got a job, helped solve the housing issue. In 1975−1976, Nerkagi worked as a methodologist in the Tyumen Regional Department of Culture. At this time, stories were written about the people of the tundra, about the affairs and people of the Arctic. In 1976. Ural magazine published the first novel by the writer — "Aniko from the family of Nogo", which was highly appreciated at the sixth All-Union meeting of young writers. A year later, the story was published in the publishing house "Molodaya Gvardiya" in a hundred thousand copies. In 1978, Anna Pavlovna was accepted into the Union of Writers of the USSR. In 1979, Nerkaga’s second novel Ilir was published in Ural magazine. While working on the third book "The White Yagel" (the book was filmed in 2014, dir. Vladimir Menshov) went on a creative business trip to the tundra, to her native Arctic, and unexpectedly stayed there forever. She worked in a team of reindeer herders, headed cultural and mass work. In 1996, the Tyumen publishing house "SoftDesign", with a circulation of ten thousand copies, released one of the most famous collections of novels, the book "The Silent One". In 2014, Anna Pavlovna’s book "Wise Sayings of the Nenets people: A collection of wise thoughts, tips, rules and warnings on the nomadic Road of Life" was published. It sets out the views reflecting the spirituality of the Nenets people. In small novels, addressed to a wide range of readers, but still to their children.

Currently, Anna Nerkagi lives and works in her native Polar Urals, in the Laborovaya trading post, in the north-west of the Yamalo-Nenets District. Winner of many literary prizes. Honorary citizen of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug.

He was born on January 3, 1935 in the village of Khorzovo in the Zavodoukovsky district of the Tyumen region in a large family of a peasant collective farmer. His childhood, like that of the entire generation, stretched through the tragic time of the war, which claimed his older brothers. He managed to graduate from only four classes of day school: from the age of eleven he started working, tried many professions — trailer driver, tractor driver, electrician, locksmith, stonemason, stoker, installer, surveyor.

In 1950, he entered a vocational school in Krasnodar and at the same time studied at an evening school. In 1952−1954 he worked as a locksmith at the Sedin factory. He served in the ranks of the Soviet Army. In 1959, he passed the entrance exams to the Ural State University named after M. Gorky, the Faculty of Journalism. He combined his studies with work as a locksmith and stoker. Since 1964, after graduating from university, he worked in newspapers, radio and television in Tyumen and Nizhnevartovsk. In 1975, he graduated from the Higher Directing Courses in Moscow.

In 1972, the first stories were published in the magazines Sovremennik and Krestyanka. The Tobolsk Drama Theater staged Tobolkin’s drama "Geologists". Later, his dramas were performed in Tyumen, Ulyanovsk, Gorky, Tobolsk, and Armavir theaters. In 1975, Zot Kornilovich was admitted to the Union of Writers of the USSR. In 1977. The Central Ural Book Publishing House has released a collection of plays "The most important people". Several plays receive prizes at All-Union competitions, the plays "Brothers" and "About Tatiana" are staged in theaters in Moscow.

About the difficulties of collective farm construction, about the formation of that great force that defeated fascism — his novel "Crouch to the ground." The novel "Lebyazhy" is dedicated to the discovery and development of the oil and gas province of the Tyumen region. The novel "Sad Fool" covers the end of the Peter the Great era, it is a novel about the first settlers and explorers of Siberia, about the formation of the Russian state. Short stories, essays, novellas, novels are published in many magazines and publishing houses of the country.

He was born on August 26, 1949 in the village of Yar-Sale, Yamal district, Yamalo-Nenets Okrug, Tyumen region. Childhood and youth were spent in the cities of Berezovo, Khanty-Mansiysk, Nefteyugansk, Surgut. He served in the army. He worked as a surveyor, in the oil industry, a TV journalist, an artist, and the general director of the Autochthon bookselling company.

The first poem cycle "Wide Winds" by Nikolai Merkamalovich was published in 1976 in the weekly Literary Russia. In 1980 he graduated from the Gorky Literary Institute. The first book of poetry "Learn to wait" was published in 1980 in Sverdlovsk. In the early 1980s, he became the head of the literary post "On the Oil Ob" of the Siberian Lights magazine. In 1982, he was admitted to the USSR Writers' Union. He was published in many periodicals. In total, sixty-one books were published in 2023 (6 books are made in dot-relief Braille for visually impaired readers), 11 books by the master were published abroad.

Winner of many literary prizes — honored Worker of Culture of the Russian Federation (2011), Co-Chairman of the Board of the Union of Russian Writers for Siberia and the Far East (2019), member of many creative associations. He was awarded the gold medal of the LiFFt Festival in Sochi (2018), the medal "For Merits in Culture and Art" of the Board of the Union of Russian Writers (2019), the S.V. Mikhalkov Medal (2023).

He was born on June 22, 1937 in the village of Kamradka in the Berezovsky district of the Ostyako-Vogul National District. Yuvan Shestalov is the same age as the Mansi script, one of the most prominent representatives of the Mansi people, the heir to the untold folklore wealth of Yugra. Shestalov’s father was one of the first communists, an organizer and chairman of a collective farm, while his grandfather was a shaman. The shamanic streak is really present and clearly makes itself felt in his character. The work of Yuvan Shestalov has its roots in Mansi folklore. The writer is a brilliant connoisseur of the rituals and customs, legends and epics of his people. His prose and poetry are permeated with folk legends, songs, and beliefs. Yuvan Shestalov was the first in the history of his people to boldly turn to the richest treasures of ancient Mansi legends, songs. Before him, none of the writers had tried to process them, to introduce them into modern verse.

The poet’s first poems were published in 1957 in the Khanty-Mansiysk district newspaper Leninskaya Pravda in the Mansi language and in the Neva magazine in Russian.

The first book by Yuvan Shestalov was published in Tyumen in 1958 in the Mansi language. It was called "Makem at", which means "The Breath of the native land". The collection "Misne" ("The Good Forest Fairy") summed up the first stage of his creative path: it contains the best poems written before 1960.

Yuvan Nikolaevich entered the great literature with his first novel "The Blue Wind of Kaslania" (1964), which was published many times in the Soviet Union and was translated into foreign languages more than once. In the story of Yu. Shestalov’s "When the sun rocked me" the plot is based on the biography of the poet. "The book is a Pagan Poem," said Shestalov, when he was awarded the State Prize of the RSFSR, — was composed of poems written by me in different years. You could say I’ve been writing it all my adult life".

Paying tribute to the merits of the poet and public figure, in the city of Khanty-Mansiysk, a memorial chum to Yuvan Shestalov is placed on the house where he lived the last days of his life, a Memorial cabinet-Museum of Yuvan Shestalov is opened in the Ethnographic Museum "Torum Maa". The sculptural composition "White Sterch" is installed on the open-air exposition of the museum.