Maria Prilezhayeva

Maria Prilezhayeva
Maria Prilezhayeva in 1980s
Born	(1903-06-22)June 22, 1903 Yaroslavl, Russian Empire
Died	April 8, 1989(1989-04-08) (aged 85) Moscow, USSR
Education	Moscow University (1925-1929)
Period	1936 - 1980s
Genre	Children's literature, criticism, memoirs
Subject	Soviet school life Political leaders’ biographies
Notable works	The Life of Lenin (1970)

Maria Pavlovna Prilezhayeva (Мария Павловна Прилежаева, June 22, 1903 in Yaroslavl, Russian Empire – April 8, 1989 in Moscow, USSR) was a Russian/Soviet children's author, literary critic and the Soviet Union of Writers official, best known for her novel The Life of Lenin (1970) which earned her the Nadezda Krupskaya RSFSR State Prize in 1971 and later the Order of Lenin.

Maria Prilezhayeva was born in Yaroslavl to a family of impoverished gentry. Her childhood years were spent in Alexandrov. At the age of 16, having graduated from a local school, she started to work as a teacher in a village. In 1925 Prilezhayeva enrolled into the Moscow University pedagogical faculty which she graduated five years later, to go on teaching in schools, in Arkhangelsk, Zagorsk and Moscow.

In 1936 she started working for magazines and newspaper, reviewing books of Russian and foreign authors. In 1941, having learned of one of her favorite student's death in the Winter War, she wrote her first novel Etot God (That Year). Several more school-themed books followed, including Semiklassnitsy (The 7th Form Girls, 1944) and Yunost Mashi Strogovoi (The Youth of Masha Strogova, 1948). Describing herself as a 'lyrical realist', Prilezhayeva cited Lev Tolstoy, Anton Chekhov and Alexander Blok as her major influences.

From the mid-1950s Prilezhayeva's books became more politically engaged. S Beregov Medveditsy (From the Medveditsa River Banks, 1955) novel related the life story of Mikhail Kalinin. Her 1970 novel Zhizn Lenina (The Life of Lenin) earned her the N.K. Krupskaya RSFSR State Prize (1971) and later the Lenin Komsomol Prize (1983).