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The Biography of M.A. Sholokhov

In May of 2005 we will celebrate the 100 anniversary of   M.A.Sholokhov, the writer who opened essence of the Don Cossacks to the world.

On the 24th of May in Krujilinskyi Don village a son was born in the family of Anastsiya Danitovna Kuznetsova and Alexander Mikhailovich   Sholokhov.   In   5   years   the  family   moved  to Karginstyi village, at the age of seven Misha was accepted for a boys' school there. Later he studied at Moscow grammar school named after G.Shelaputtn, then in Boguchar and Veshenskaya boys and girls' grammar school. In the middle of 1920 Sholokhov worked as a teacher during the elimination of illiteracy among the grown-ups. In 1923 Sholokhov moved to Moscow to continue his education and to try himself in literature. In autumn of 1923 the youth newspaper "Younosheskay pravda" edited two feuilletons of his.
At the beginning of 1924 M. Sholokhov returned to the Don region into Bukanovskaya stanitsa and married Mary Petrovna Gromoslavskaya. In 1924 his "Don Stories" appeared.

In   1925  M.   Sholokhov  began  writing  "The  Still   Don".  The Sholokhovs lived in the Don region, first in Karginskaya, then in Bukanovskaya stanitsa and later moved to Veshenskaya . In 1928 the "October" magazine started publishing " The Still Don".

Simultaneously with the finishing of "The Still Don" M. Sholokhov worked on the novel "Virgin Soil Upturned". In December of 1937 he was elected as a   delegate of Supreme Soviet In January of 1937 he was awarded with a Lenin medal by the order of the Presidium of Supreme Soviet.

During the war M. Sholokhov worked as a correspondent of Sovinformbereau, of the newspapers "Pravda" and "Red Star". He was at several fronts during the Great Patriotic war, at that time his sketches "On the Don River", "In Cossack's Farms", "On the Way to Front", "Science of Hatred" and some chapters of the novel "They fought for the Motherland" appeared. As soon as the war was over M. Sholokhov led an active social life as a delegate of the Supreme Soviet. In 1955 he was awarded with a Lenin medal for outstanding literature merits.

In 1960 M. Sholokhov became a Lenin prize-winner. In 1965 he became a Nobel prize-winner for his novel "The Still Don".
The State appreciated the writer's contribution into the country's cultural life. In 1967 M. Sholokhov was awarded with the first and in 1980 with the second Golden Star of the Hero of the Socialist Labour.  During  his  life  time  a  bronze  bust was  erected  in Veshenskaya.

M.A. Sholokhov died on the 21 of February in 1984, he was buried by his house in the garden on the high bank of Don, which he hymned.