Childhood and enrolment in university

Alexander Valentinovich Vampilov was born into a family of teachers on 19 August 1937 in the town of Cheremkhovo. Six months later his father was arrested and soon shot. Left a widow, the mother of the future writer continued to work as a teacher and independently raised four children.

After graduating from school, Alexander Valentinovich applied to the Irkutsk State University, but did not enter. For a year he worked in the district House of Culture, and then repeated his attempt to enter the Irkutsk State University. Soon he was enrolled in the Faculty of Philology, which he successfully graduated in 1960.

Fruitful creativity

Being a third-year student, Vampilov wrote a short story "Persian Lilacs", which soon appeared on the pages of the newspaper "Irkutsk University". After a successful debut, he would continue his literary activities, and in the early 1960s he began composing plays. The production of the play "Farewell in June" was a real breakthrough, and the author continued to work, creating many more talented plays:

"Duck Hunt"

"The Eldest Son"

"Provincial Anecdotes"

"Valentine" (later the title was changed to "Red Summer - June, July, August...")

Not all of the playwright's works were appreciated. Honoured Artist of Russia Nikolai Chindyaikin later confessed: "Not only the officials did not see that this is a great playwright - we did not see it either. We didn't read it, we didn't realise it, we didn't understand it". After the author's death, the attitude towards his work changed dramatically. His plays began to go in the capital's theatres, articles and works of fiction were translated into dozens of foreign languages.

Tragic death of the writer

In the summer of 1972, Alexander Valentinovich was resting on Lake Baikal. When the boat overturned, the writer could not swim to the shore. It happened two days before his birthday. In memory of the playwright, several memorial plaques were unveiled, streets were named after him, monuments were erected, and a feature film starring Andrei Merzlikin was made.