Vsevolod Zinovievich Nestayko is a Ukrainian Soviet writer-prose writer, a classic of modern Ukrainian children’s literature.
Place of Birth, Education
He was born on January 30, 1930 in the city of Berdychiv.
He graduated from school with honors. Due to the Second World War, he missed his studies in the 5th and 9th grades, but mastered the program of the 9th grade on his own.
During the occupation, he and his mother could not leave Kyiv due to illness. What he experienced in those years left a mark on his memory.
After graduating from school, he entered the Taras Shevchenko University of Kyiv at the Slavic department of the Faculty of Philology. He completed his studies in 1952.
Career
In 1948, Nestayko worked as an extra at the Kyiv Theater of Russian Drama. Also, while studying at the university, he began working in the editorial office of the magazine “Dnipro”.
After that, for five years he held the position of literary editor and proofreader in the magazine “Barvinok”, where Ostap Vyshnya’s adopted daughter worked with him.
Later, he moved to the publishing house “Youth”, and in 1956 he began working at the publishing house “Veselka”, where for 31 years – until 1987 – he headed the editorial office.
During this period, he joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, of which he was a member for 13 years.
Nestayko was acquainted with many writers, including Valentyn Bychko, Hryhor Tyutyunnyk and Lina Kostenko.
In 1958, he became a member of the Union of Writers of the Ukrainian SSR.
In 2004, Nestayko, together with the poet and editor Ivan Malkovych, prepared and published an updated version of the book “Toreadors from Vasyukivka”. In the reprint, the author removed some of the ideological moments inherent in previous times, as well as individual episodes that could be incomprehensible to current or future readers. In addition, new fragments have appeared.
Over the years, Nestayko hosted the radio program “Vsevolod Nestayko’s Radio Tale” on the National Radio of Ukraine.
In the last years of his life, he lived in the Kyiv district of Lypky. He had serious health problems: he lost his eyesight and suffered from diabetes.
He died on August 16, 2014 at the age of 85. He was buried at the Baikove cemetery, next to his wife.
Creativity
Among the literary achievements of Vsevolod Nestayko:
- “Toreadors from Vasyukivka”;
- “Stranger from the Land of Sunny Bunnies”;
- “The Adventures of Hrytsko Polovinka”;
- “The Mystery of the Three Unknowns”;
- “Five with a tail”;
- “Unit with deception”;
- “He had no rivals”;
- “Amazing Adventures at the Forest School”;
- “Cosmo-Nata, or How to Become a Star”.
Interesting Facts
Here are some interesting facts from Nastaiko’s life:
- the Nestayko family communicated in Russian, but Vsevolod was sent to a Ukrainian school – so that he knew the language of his father;
- During his school years, the boy’s behavior was far from exemplary. In high school, it came to almost expulsion from school;
- he spent most of his life in Kyiv. He considered Pechersk to be the closest district for himself.
- a film was made based on “Toreadors from Vasyukivka”, but the Soviet authorities banned its screening, accusing the creators of “a distorted image of Soviet pioneering”;
- Nestayko repeatedly mentioned that the war took away his childhood, and that is why he became a children’s writer;
- For more than 55 years of work in literature, he wrote more than 30 books. Many of them have become classics of Ukrainian children’s literature;
- had certain prejudices – for example, if a black cat crossed the road, he stopped and did not go further.
Marital Status
He was married to literary critic Svetlana Shcholokova. The woman once taught at the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv.
