Yuvan (Ivan) Nikolaevich Shestalov
He was born on June 22, 1937 in the village of Kamradka in the Berezovsky district of the Ostyako-Vogul National District. Yuvan Shestalov is the same age as the Mansi script, one of the most prominent representatives of the Mansi people, the heir to the untold folklore wealth of Yugra. Shestalov’s father was one of the first communists, an organizer and chairman of a collective farm, while his grandfather was a shaman. The shamanic streak is really present and clearly makes itself felt in his character. The work of Yuvan Shestalov has its roots in Mansi folklore. The writer is a brilliant connoisseur of the rituals and customs, legends and epics of his people. His prose and poetry are permeated with folk legends, songs, and beliefs. Yuvan Shestalov was the first in the history of his people to boldly turn to the richest treasures of ancient Mansi legends, songs. Before him, none of the writers had tried to process them, to introduce them into modern verse.
The poet’s first poems were published in 1957 in the Khanty-Mansiysk district newspaper Leninskaya Pravda in the Mansi language and in the Neva magazine in Russian.
The first book by Yuvan Shestalov was published in Tyumen in 1958 in the Mansi language. It was called "Makem at", which means "The Breath of the native land". The collection "Misne" ("The Good Forest Fairy") summed up the first stage of his creative path: it contains the best poems written before 1960.
Yuvan Nikolaevich entered the great literature with his first novel "The Blue Wind of Kaslania" (1964), which was published many times in the Soviet Union and was translated into foreign languages more than once. In the story of Yu. Shestalov’s "When the sun rocked me" the plot is based on the biography of the poet. "The book is a Pagan Poem," said Shestalov, when he was awarded the State Prize of the RSFSR, — was composed of poems written by me in different years. You could say I’ve been writing it all my adult life".
Paying tribute to the merits of the poet and public figure, in the city of Khanty-Mansiysk, a memorial chum to Yuvan Shestalov is placed on the house where he lived the last days of his life, a Memorial cabinet-Museum of Yuvan Shestalov is opened in the Ethnographic Museum "Torum Maa". The sculptural composition "White Sterch" is installed on the open-air exposition of the museum.
The poet’s first poems were published in 1957 in the Khanty-Mansiysk district newspaper Leninskaya Pravda in the Mansi language and in the Neva magazine in Russian.
The first book by Yuvan Shestalov was published in Tyumen in 1958 in the Mansi language. It was called "Makem at", which means "The Breath of the native land". The collection "Misne" ("The Good Forest Fairy") summed up the first stage of his creative path: it contains the best poems written before 1960.
Yuvan Nikolaevich entered the great literature with his first novel "The Blue Wind of Kaslania" (1964), which was published many times in the Soviet Union and was translated into foreign languages more than once. In the story of Yu. Shestalov’s "When the sun rocked me" the plot is based on the biography of the poet. "The book is a Pagan Poem," said Shestalov, when he was awarded the State Prize of the RSFSR, — was composed of poems written by me in different years. You could say I’ve been writing it all my adult life".
Paying tribute to the merits of the poet and public figure, in the city of Khanty-Mansiysk, a memorial chum to Yuvan Shestalov is placed on the house where he lived the last days of his life, a Memorial cabinet-Museum of Yuvan Shestalov is opened in the Ethnographic Museum "Torum Maa". The sculptural composition "White Sterch" is installed on the open-air exposition of the museum.