Writers and poets
Konstantin Paustovsky
May 31, 1892 — July 14, 1968
- Writer
A prose writer who grew up in Kyiv, attending the First Kyiv Gymnasium and Kyiv University; he described his Kyiv childhood in Distant Years, the first book of his Story of a Life.
Biography
Konstantin Paustovsky was born in Moscow in 1892, but from 1898 his family lived in Kyiv, and it was here that he spent his childhood and youth. The family moved several times — 33 Liuteranska St, 9 Sviatoslavska St, 13 Mykilsko-Botanichna St — and later he lived with his mother at 9 Velyka Pidvalna St and, from 1909, with his grandmother on Bahhovutivska St.
From 1904 to 1912 he attended the First Kyiv Gymnasium on what was then Bibikovsky Boulevard (today the university's “Yellow Building” at 14 Shevchenko Boulevard), the same school where Mikhail Bulgakov studied a few years ahead of him. In 1912 he entered Kyiv University before transferring to Moscow. In 1918 he was back in Kyiv, living at 31 Nestorivska St (now Ivana Franka St).
The Kyiv of his school years comes alive in Distant Years (1945), the first volume of his autobiographical Story of a Life. Later volumes, however, portray Ukraine's governments of 1918 with irony and disdain, so his legacy is viewed with mixed feelings in Ukraine today. He is buried in Tarusa, Russia.
Kyiv in their life
- 14 Taras Shevchenko Blvd — the former First Gymnasium, where he studied in 1904–1912.
- 33 Liuteranska St — one of the family's first Kyiv addresses (from 1898).
- 9 Velyka Pidvalna St (now Yaroslaviv Val) — his home with his mother after 1908.
- 33 Ivana Franka St (formerly 31 Nestorivska St) — his flat in 1918.
Gallery
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