Yevgeny Yevtushenko

Yevgeny Yevtushenko was born on July 18, 1933, in the Irkutsk region of Siberia, and he grew up there and in Moscow. In 1956 Yevtushenko published a long poem, “Zima Junction,” about his hometown in Siberia; this poem was criticized by the press for its portrayal of the post-Stalin Soviet Union. In 1961 he published his best-known poem, “Babi Yar,” which famously denounced Russian anti-Semitism and inspired Dimitri Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 13. Yevtushenko published numerous poetry collections, including The Collected Poems: 1952–1990 (Henry Holt, 1991), Almost at the End (Henry Holt, 1987), From Desire to Desire (Doubleday, 1976), and The Poetry of Yevgeny Yevtushenko, 1953–1965 (October House, 1965). He was also the author of several works of prose, including the novel Wild Berries (W. Morrow, 1984) and the autobiography A Precocious Autobiography (Dutton, 1963). (Source)