Radiy Pogodin is a popular Soviet children's writer and screenwriter. His adult prose is less known: the author wrote a lot about the military soldier's life, about everything that he knew and saw with his own eyes. At the end of his life, Pogodin took up painting and began to write poetry. Unfortunately, this man left too early, not having time to reveal his multifaceted talent to the fullest.
Childhood and youth
The biography of Radiy Pogodin began in 1925 in the village of Duplevo. The future writer was born into a poor peasant family, he and his brother were raised by their mother. The father left home, the children lived in very cramped conditions. Mother and children moved to Leningrad, where Radiy finished school.
With the outbreak of the war, the teenager was sent back to the village, but when the front line came very close, he returned to Leningrad. To receive a work card, Radiy got a job as a mechanic at a factory.
Pogodin survived the blockade very hard, after the first hungry winter he, completely exhausted, was sent to the Urals, deep in the rear. Barely recovered, seventeen-year-old Radiy went to the front.
The young man underwent accelerated training at an infantry school and got to the front line. Pogodin liberated Ukraine, while crossing the Dnieper he was wounded. After being treated in the hospital, he returned to the front, went with his part all over Eastern Europe and reached Berlin. Pogodin ended the war as an intelligence commander, was awarded two Orders of Glory and two Orders of the Red Star, and several medals. The front undermined the health of a very young man: Radium received several severe wounds and was shell-shocked.
Pogodin was always interested in literature and after the war he entered the LGI. After graduating from high school, he worked as a journalist in a large-circulation newspaper. At one of the meetings, the aspiring journalist boldly spoke out against the condemnation of Akhmatova and Zoshchenko. His defense had fatal consequences: despite the front-line merits, Pogodin was convicted of complicity and sentenced to 5 years in the camps with deprivation of all military awards.
All the best for children: a creative path
Returning from the camp, Pogodin tried many activities, worked as a radio editor, educator and even a lumberjack. He really wanted to write, but the path to big literature was closed, journalism was also banned. The exit was unexpected: Radium began to write children's prose. At the time, this area was fairly free and less dependent on censorship.
The first book of stories was published in 1957. The following collections went on sale for 3 years, while Pogodin was published in children's and youth magazines. Fame came after the story "Dubravka", published in the magazine "Youth".
The new author was well received by critics. They noted his unique style, the ability to understand a child and adolescent, to express his thoughts and feelings in a simple but poetic language. The children themselves enjoyed reading the stories and stories of Pogodin.
In the 60s, Radiy Petrovich wrote the first play "Tren-nonsense", it was quickly staged by the Leningrad Youth Theater. Since then, Pogodin has become known as a playwright.
End of life: literary and artistic experimentation
In the last decade of his life, Rodion Petrovich gradually switched to adult prose. By this time, he received several prestigious awards for achievements in the field of literature, and military orders and medals were returned to him. Pogodin wrote about what he knew and remembered well: about a soldier's life, war, occupation, relationships between people.
Another later hobby of the writer is painting. Having undergone several difficult operations, Pogodin drew with gusto, this was his way of fighting for life. Lying in intensive care, he began to write poetry, which were published by the literary magazines "Neva" and "Zvezda".
Pogodin did not like to talk about his personal life. He was not married and had no children. The famous children's writer died in 1993 and is buried at the Volkovskoye cemetery in St. Petersburg.
