Sofya Prokofeva

Sophia Leonidovna Prokofieva is a Russian writer, the author of unique children’s fairy tales. She was born in Moscow on May 14, 1928, and grew up in the family of the artist L. E. Feinberg and the Orientalist Japanologist V. N. Markova. Her brother is Sergei Severtsov. Her son is S. O. Prokofiev, and her daughter is Maria Viktorovna Korovina. Her interest in literary creativity appeared early: at the age of 15 she had already written the verse cycle “Ancient Cycle,” which was highly praised by Boris Pasternak.

She graduated from the graphics faculty of the Moscow State Art Institute named after V. Surikov in 1957, then worked as an artist-illustrator. She began writing fairy tales in the early 1950s, after the birth of her son. Prokofieva’s fairy tales were read by L. Kassil, who called her “a true storyteller.” Her first book, the verse fairy tale “Who Is Better?”, was published by Detgiz in 1957. Since then she has written more than thirty books and continues to write new ones. Prokofieva’s fairy tales have been translated into more than twenty languages.

Sophia Prokofieva also did much work for the theater. In collaboration with Genrikh Sapgir, she wrote the plays “Puss in Boots” and “Vasilisa the Beautiful,” and with Irina Tokmakova, “The Arrow of Robin Hood” and “Andrei the Marksman and Marya the Dove.” She is also known for retellings of works from European folklore for children: about the childhood of Roland, King Arthur and Parsifal, and the legends of Selma Lagerlöf.

Sophia Prokofieva is the author of screenplays used for animated films such as “Patch and the Cloud,” “Island of the Captains,” and “The Apprentice of the Wizard,” as well as live-action films “While the Clocks Strike” (1976), “Leave the Window Open,” and “Without Witnesses” (1983). The film adaptation of Sophia Prokofieva’s novella “The Adventures of the Yellow Suitcase” (1970) received three awards at international festivals, including the silver medal