{{Short description|Soviet writer}} {{Infobox writer <!-- for more information see :Template:Infobox writer/doc --> | name = Ivan Dmitrievich Vasilenko | pseudonym = | image = | caption = | alt = | birth_name = Ivan Dmitrievich Vasilenko | birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1895|1|20}} | birth_place = Makiivka, Don Host Oblast, Russian Empire | death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1966|5|26|1895|1|20}} | death_place = Taganrog, Russian SFSR, USSR | occupation = author of children's books | nationality = Russian }}
'''Ivan Dmitrievich Vasilenko''' ({{langx|ru|Ива́н Дми́триевич Василе́нко}}, {{langx|uk|Іван Дмитрович Василенко}}; January 20, 1895 – May 26, 1966), was a Soviet writer of children's books.
==Early years==
Ivan Dmitrievich Vasilenko was born January 20, 1895, in the village of Makiivka, in Don Host Oblast (in present-day Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine) in the family of a ''volost'' scribe (deputy ''volost'' elser). Seven years later, his family moved to the city of Taganrog. In 1912 Ivan Vasilenko graduated from the 4-year college and became teacher at a village school. He entered the Belgorod pedagogical institute, but was soon dismissed for organization of a Marxist group, and because of that the further route for Vasilenko to teaching was closed and he worked as an accountant in the Taganrog Land bank. After October Revolution, he held a position in a trade union, later worked in public education. He began hi writing career at the age of 39 while bedridden due to severe tuberculosis. During World War II, he contributed to Soviet military newspapers.
== The literary career of Ivan Vasilenko ==
The literary talent of Vasilenko was discovered by Russian writer Vikenty Veresaev in 1937. All of his tales and stories written for 30 years of creative life, such as ''Magic Box'', ''Childhood of the Actor'', ''The Little Mouse'', ''The Gordian Knot'', ''Cocks'', ''Green Trunk'', ''Golden Shoes'', ''Sunrise is only Once a Day'', ''Merimes Watch'', ''Family Council'', ''Misha and Masha'' and others, were reissued by local, republican and central publishing houses and used large popularity both for children and for adults.
[[File:Ivan Vasilenko Museum.jpg|thumb|Ivan Vasilenko memorial house and museum in downtown Taganrog.]]
In 1949, Vasilenko was awarded a State Stalin Prize for the story "The Little Star" about life of trade school's students. Many books have been translated into 27 languages of USSR nations, and into Czech, German, Polish, Bulgarian, Romanian, Vietnamese, French and English languages. His novels ''The Little Star'', ''Artyomka in the Circus'', ''Magic Box'', ''Little Golden Shoes'' were released as motion pictures.
He died in Taganrog on May 26, 1966.
==Awards and remembrance== *1950: State Stalin Prize of 3rd degree for the 1948 novel ''Little Star''<ref name=homu/> *1950: Order of the Badge of Honour<ref name=homu/> * Memorial museum was inaugurated in the house on Ulitsa Chekhova 88 in Taganrog, where Ivan Vasilenko and his family lived from 1923 until 1966. * One of Taganrog Public Chekhov Library's branches is named after Vasilenko. * In May 2010 a monument "Artyomka" was inaugurated in front of the memorial museum on Chekhov Street.
==Works== [[File:Near Vasilenko house-museum.jpg|thumb|right|"Artyomka" – a monument to Vasilenko's most popular character in Taganrog.]] During the life of Vasileko were printed 130 times, in 27 languages of the Soviet Union, as well as into German, Czech, Polish and Romanian.<ref name=homu/> *A series of novels about a boy Artyomka:<ref name=homu>[http://zhais.ru/R-taganrog-vasilenko.htm Дом-музей И.Д. Василенко. Таганрог] [ I.D. Vasilenko House-Museum. Taganrog ]</ref> ** ''Magic Box'' («Ростиздат», Ростов, 1938) **''Actor's Childhood - Artyomka in the Circus'' **''Artryomka Visiting Gymnasists'' ** ''Encnanted Play'' ** ''Little Golden Shoes'' * ''Little Star'' («Молодая гвардия», М., 1948). **The 1952 film ''The Encounter of a Lifetime'' was based on the novel<ref>[https://megabook.ru/article/%D0%9D%D0%B0%D0%B2%D1%81%D1%82%D1%80%D0%B5%D1%87%D1%83%20%D0%B6%D0%B8%D0%B7%D0%BD%D0%B8 Навстречу жизни]</ref> *''Amazing Stories'' («Ростиздат», Ростов, 1946). *''My friends'' (novels and stories) («Сов. писатель», М., 1946). *''Captain's Order'' («Детизд», М., 1953). *''Selected Stories'' («Сов. писатель», М., 1956). *''The Life and Adventures of Starveling'' (1959) *''Selected Stories of Children'' («Детизд», М., 1960). *''Novels'' (Душанбе, 1966)
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * [http://www.taganrogcity.com/vasilenko.html Ivan Vasilenko and his home city Taganrog]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vasilenko, Ivan}} Category:1895 births Category:1966 deaths Category:People from Makiivka Category:People from Don Host Oblast Category:Communist Party of the Soviet Union members Category:Soviet children's writers Category:Soviet male writers Category:Soviet war correspondents Category:Recipients of the Stalin Prize Category:Recipients of the Order of the Badge of Honour Category:Writers from Donetsk Oblast