Tokmakova Irina Petrovna entered the history of Russian literature as a talented children's prose writer and poet, translator of foreign poems. For her creative work, Irina wrote a huge number of educational stories for preschoolers. In addition, Tokmakova wrote translations of folklore poems from England and Sweden. Do you want to learn more about this writer, to get acquainted with her life and career? In this case, this article is for you.
Tokmakova Irina Petrovna. Biography for children
The future poetess was born on March 3, 1929 in Moscow. The girl grew up in a completely prosperous and well-off family. Her father, Pyotr Manukov, was an electrical engineer, and her mother, Lydia Diligenskaya, was a pediatrician, and she also managed the local Foundling House.
Tokmakova Irina Petrovna (photo can be seen above) from childhood showed her talents. For example, she had an irresistible craving for knowledge. She sat for hours in the school library and read books on various topics. A huge bag of knowledge helped the girl while studying. It is for this reason that it was not difficult for Irina to finish school with a gold medal.
University
From an early age, Tokmakov was attracted to literature. She actively read both Russian and foreign writers and poets. In childhood, Irina even wrote poems herself. However, the girl did not give much attention to this hobby, as she believed that she did not have literary talent. For this reason, after graduation, she decided to go to the faculty of linguistics. The young poetess managed to enter one of the most prestigious universities in the country - Moscow State University (MSU). A few years later, Irina graduated, graduating with honors. She decided to go to work by profession. Thus, Tokmakova became a translator.
Literary activity
Irina began her literary work quite late. Anyway, Tokmakova did not intend to engage in literature. Everything happened very spontaneously. Once, Mr. Borgqvist, an energy engineer from Sweden, came to Russia. In the course of joint work, the man met the young translator closer. He learned that Tokmakova Irina Petrovna is a fan of Swedish folk poetry. For this reason, the man sent Tokmakova a collection of children's Swedish songs, which was intended for the son of Irina. The first literary translations of the poems were made for home use. However, Irina's husband - a famous illustrator Lev Tokmakov - secretly from his wife took the translations of poems to the publishing house. Leo also painted illustrations for translations. As a result, the publishing house published the work, and in this way the first book of Tokmakova was born, which was called "The Bees Drive a Round Dance". This event happened in 1961.
Children's book Tokmakova enjoyed quite a lot of popularity. This inspired Irina, and she decided to actively engage in literary activities. Thus, a year later a collection of her own poems entitled "Trees" was published. As in the case of "Drive the bees round dance", the illustrations for the work were painted by Irina's husband.
Creation
As can be understood from the above, the main audience of Tokmakova are children. The writer quite actively published small children's stories in poetic form. It was these works that brought her the greatest fame. As a rule, these books carried some instructive history and morality. It is for this reason that the works of Irina Petrovna Tokmakova can be considered parables.
Irina also became famous as a playwright. Tokmakova’s plays were staged in the best theaters in Russia. As in the case of prose, dramatic works focused on children's audiences. The most famous plays include Kukarek, Enchanted Hoof, Star Masters, Frost, Starship Fedya and more.
The Tokmakova bibliography contains quite atypical works. For example, she wrote various children's novels and games, thanks to which the child could learn to read, count, understand the basics of grammar. It is also worth noting that Tokmakova participated in various literary collaborations. For example, Irina wrote a couple of children's plays in collaboration with the notorious Soviet writer Sofia Prokofieva (“A Gift for the Snow Maiden”, “Arrow of Robin Hood”, “Ivan the Bogatyr and Tsar Maiden”, “Andrey Strelok and Marya Golubka”).
Tokmakova Irina Petrovna. Interesting facts from life
Even in her student years, Irina met a budding artist Lev Tokmakov. Passion immediately flared up between them, and soon the couple officially formalized their marriage. A little later a new member appeared in the Tokmakov family - Vasily, who decided to follow in his mother's footsteps and become a poet.
In 2002, Irina Petrovna was awarded one of the most prestigious awards in our country - the State Prize of the Russian Federation. Tokmakova received an award for achievements in the field of literature and art.