Background
Larisa was born on November 23, 1935, in Kharkov, Ukraine.
Larisa was born on November 23, 1935, in Kharkov, Ukraine.
In 1958 she graduated from the Philological Faculty of Moscow State University.
She started writing from childhood, one poem was published in the newspaper “Pionerskaya Pravda”. The first “adult” poems by Larissa Vasilyeva came out in the magazines “Youth”, “Young Guard”, “Moscow”. She started publishing since 1957. Author of more than twenty poetry collections and poems (“Flax Moon”, 1966; “Ognevitsa”, 1969;
“Lebed”, “Blue Twilight”, both 1970; “One land - one love”, 1973; “Rainbow of snow”, 1974; “Meadow”, 1975; “Fire in the Window”, 1978; “Russian names”, 1980; “Vasilisa”, 1981;
“Grove”, 1984; “Luminaire”, 1985; “Strange property”, 1991). In her poems, the poetess raises the topics of war, historical destinies of Russia, love, and nature, and reflects on the contradictions and the complex inner world of the contemporary.
Having lived in the UK for over five years with her husband Oleg Vasiliev, “Izvestia” newspaper correspondent, she wrote a series of essays “Albion and the Mystery of Time” (1st edition 1978, 2nd supplemented edition 1983), which opened in the poetess a gifted prose writer.
In 1983, the book “The Book of the Father” was published - a novel, a memory of her father, the result of persistent searches and numerous meetings with veterans - tank builders and tankmen. The book received a huge readers' response: “The response to the publication was literally bags of letters in which people who were somehow connected with the T-34 tank, shared facts and memories with L.N. Vasilieva, sent photos and documents”. Based on materials sent by readers, Larisa Vasilieva created a home museum "History of the Thirty", which on May 2, 1985, received the first visitors.
Larissa Vasilieva is also the author of many memoirs, journalistic and literary critical works (the poem Life, Death, and Pushkin, The Living Female Soul, Antigone, Praskovia - Vera! - about the actress VP Maretskaya, “Lord C and Lady Snow” – about a British couple Ch. P. Snow and P. H. Johnson, and others). The book “15 Meetings in Ostankino” (1989) reveals the theme of spiritual values and the writer's role in the moral improvement of man. It is based on the popular speeches on the Central Television of famous Soviet writers V. P. Astafyev, Yu. V. Bondarev, N. V. Dumbadze, V. S. Pikul, C. T. Aitmatov and V. G. Rasputin.
In 1993, a documentary book entitled "Kremlin Wives" was published. The represents stories based on personal impressions or conversations with eyewitnesses about N.K. Krupskaya, P. S. Zhemchuzhina, N. P. Khrushcheva, V. P. Brezhneva, R. M. Gorbacheva and other women who were the wives of the “leaders” of Soviet people [3]. In the artistic and journalistic research "The Children of the Kremlin" (1997) she narrate about the fate of some children like L.B. Kamenev, J.V. Stalin, S.M. Budenny, L.M. Kaganovich, N.S. Khrushchev, and others.
The works of Larissa Vasilyeva have been translated into several foreign languages (including English). The writer also translates from English.
She got the award of the Moscow Komsomol (1967), Buninskaya award in the nomination "Poetry" for the collections of poems “Hill” and “Four Women in the Window” (2010). Laureate of the "Imperial Culture" award named after Eduard Volodin.
Since 1996 - Professor of Nottingen University (Great Britain), Academician of the Academy of Russian Literature.
Since the 1990s, Larisa Vasilyeva has been actively involved in social activities and charity. She published a number of articles on women's issues. President of the International League of Writers. Member of the Commission on Women, Family, and Demographic issues under the President of the Russian Federation. President of the information community "Atlantis". Member of the jury of the national literary prize "Writer of the Year".
History of the T-34 tank (museum)
On the 60th anniversary of the beginning of the counter-offensive near Moscow, a new museum was opened, created as a municipal cultural institution in the city of Lobnya.