Children’s creativity is a very respectful profession. It is children’s writers who help the younger generation to shape their outlook on life, they give them directions for dreams, and we owe them hundreds of poets, pioneers, cosmonauts and scientists. Soviet writer Boris Zakhoder was just that – a real poet and writer for children.
The future writer was born in Moldova, in the same city where his parents first met and later married. Shortly before the revolution in Russia, his family moved to Moscow. Young Boris received in childhood musical education, which, in his own words, had a strong influence on his work. He considered Beethoven and Chopin to be his favorite composers. At the age of seven, he ran away from home, offended by his parents. He was soon found, but did not scold. The future writer and poet shunned many boyish fun. In particular, he did not play football and almost never fought. After school, Boris Zakhoder worked as an assistant turner at the plant, and then entered the Moscow Aviation Institute.
The writer as a volunteer took part in the Soviet-Finnish and World War II. The first work for a children’s audience, the poem “Sea Battle”, Boris Zakhoder wrote in 1947. Some of Zakhoder’s works were published under the pseudonym “Boris West”. For several years, due to the difficult financial situation, he worked part time by breeding aquarium fish at home. Boris Zakhoder’s poems were published in a number of popular Soviet newspapers.
In addition to poetry and prose, the poet also became famous for his masterpieces of translations of foreign children’s literature. It was he, by the way, who gave us the translation of the book about Winnie the Pooh. But the Soviet cartoon based on the original source, he did not approve, negatively referring to the fact that from the picture removed one of the central characters – Christopher Robin. Zakhoder invented the order of the name of Winnie the Pooh. These orders he handed to his friends. He made his first attempt at translation at the age of 11, attempting to translate one of Goethe’s poems into Russian. In the 80s in the USA, Boris Zakhoder bought a computer, but it was soon stolen, so he didn’t take this amazing new product to the house. With a musical education, Boris Zakhoder also wrote plays for children’s theater – “Mary Poppins”, “Alice in Wonderland” and others. During his lifetime, he received many awards in literature, including the prestigious Hans Christian Andersen International Prize. On the grave of Boris Zakhoder there is a monument on which, among other things, Winnie-the-Pooh and Piglet are engraved, stretching into the distance.
