This collection includes articles and memoirs by one of the masters of literary expression, the renowned poet and translator Samuil Yakovlevich Marshak. Marshak vividly and captivatingly discusses his poetic experiences, shares his thoughts on the importance of poetry and fairy tales in the lives of children and adults, creates literary portraits of Nekrasov, Pushkin, and Tvardovsky, discusses rhyme and rhythm, and recalls encounters with celebrated contemporaries. The book will be of interest to anyone with a passion for literary expression, to all 'talented readers,' whom, in Marshak's words, 'the author relies on when he strains all his spiritual energies in search of the right image, the right turn of action, the right word.'