Ivan Petrovich Shamyakin is the pride of Belarus, a famous writer who lived the life of a successful person.
His first novel was awarded the
Stalin Prize, and most of the works, the theme of which was the Great Patriotic War, were made into films.
Biography of Ivan Shamyakin
The Belarusian writer, a native of a poor peasant family, was born on January 30, 1921. His village Korma (Gomel province) was located on the border of the states: Belarus, Ukraine and Russia. The beauty of the native land and the knowledge of the three languages that the boy had heard since childhood, contributed to the development of the literary talent of the future writer.
Ivan began to write the first poetic lines while studying at the Gomel College of Building Materials. Also during this period he took part in meetings of the literary association in the city newspaper. In 1940, after graduation, he married. His chosen one was Maria Filatovna, with whom the writer was familiar from the fifth grade. A happy marriage lasted 58 years. Ivan Petrovich dedicated the work “Unique Spring” and “Hail Mary” to his wife, who had left this world before him.
After his marriage, Ivan Shamyakin got a job as a technical technologist at a brick factory, then he was drafted into the army, from where he was sent to serve in Murmansk. There war found a young man.
War years
During the war, Ivan Shamyakin was a gun crew commander, took part in the battles near Murmansk, which was mercilessly bombed by enemy aircraft. Among the soldiers, the young Belarusian was distinguished by a cheerful disposition; he was an interesting storyteller, whom fighters listened with pleasure. Shamyakin wrote reports to his superiors, engaged in the production of wall newspapers, combat leaflets. In 1941, he wrote and published his first story “At the Snowy Deserts” (in Belarusian), dedicated to the battles with the Nazi invaders in the North, where he fought at the beginning of the war. The printed debut took place during the war period in the newspaper Chasovaya Severa. Further on the front line was Poland, then Germany. Ivan Shamyakin met the Great Victory on the Oder.
Post-war peacetime
After the war, Ivan returned to his native land - the village of Prokopovka in the Terekhov district - and got a job as a teacher of language and literature in high school. In the evenings, he held seminars of agitators on the collective farm, and at night he wrote tales and stories about the past war. In the same period he enrolled in absentia at the Pedagogical Institute of the city of Gomel. In 1946, the story "Pomsta", telling about the humanism of Russian soldiers, was published on the pages of the magazine "Polymya".
Works by Ivan Shamyakin
The biography of the writer Ivan Shamyakin is closely related to his literary work. Readers highly appreciated the first novel, Deep Current, which raises the theme of guerrilla warfare in the war years. The best human qualities, dedication and a sense of high civic duty are collected in the image of the protagonist of the work - Commissioner Lesnitsky. This novel was awarded the USSR State Prize in 1951. Further, “Krynitsa” and “Goodnight” were published, telling about collective farm life in the difficult period of the restoration of a national economy destroyed by a ruthless war. In every work of Shamyakin, even if the story is about modern life, there are events of the past war, about which the author cannot be silent. Thus, a cycle of books is entirely devoted to the war, in many respects autobiographical and united under the title “Anxious happiness”. It included five novels: “The Bridge”, “Fire and Snow”, “Unique Spring”, “In Search of a Meeting”, “Night Lightning”.
In 1975, the story “The Wedding Night” was published, in 1976 - “The Merchant and the Poet”, in the late 70s the reader got acquainted with the novel “Atlantes and Caryatids”. The novels “Take Your Pain”, “Snowy Winters”, “Heart in the Palm” are devoted to the theme of military duty, the struggle of Belarusian partisans, and heroism during the war.
Achievements of Belarusian writer
Over a 60-year career, about 130 books with a total circulation of more than 25 million copies have come out of the writer's pen. The literary work of the writer was actively combined with his socio-political activities. He was the secretary of the party organization of the Belarusian Union of Writers, editor-in-chief of the Belarusian Soviet Encyclopedia, academician of the International Slavic Academy of Sciences, Education, Art and Culture, as well as the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus. He was a deputy of several convocations of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR and the BSSR.
Ivan Shamyakin died (photo of the last years of his life can be seen above) October 14, 2004; the cause of death is considered to be severe longing for a spouse who had gone six years earlier. In honor of the Belarusian writer, one of the streets of the capital of Belarus was renamed. On the facade of the house in Minsk, where Ivan Shamyakin lived for 37 years, a memorial plaque was installed ; his name was assigned to Mozyr State Pedagogical University.