Yuriy Koval

Yury Koval is one of the best-known and best-loved children's writers in the USSR and Russia; his books have been reissued many times and continue to be reissued. For his works he was awarded the prize of the All-Union Contest for the Best Work for Children (1971), the honorary diploma named after A.P. Gaidar (1983), the Andersen Diploma — the honorary diploma of the International Board on Books for Young People (1986), the prize of the All-Union Contest for the Best Children's Book (1987), and the Strannik Prize of the International Congress of Writers of Fantasy and Science Fiction (1996, posthumously). Yury Koval's books have been translated into several European languages, as well as into Chinese and Japanese. Many of his works have been adapted, and continue to be adapted, into feature films and animated films.

In 2008, the editorial board of the magazine Murzilka established the annual Yury Koval Prize for the best literary work for children (its results are to be announced on the writer's birthday).

Yury Koval was the younger brother of the historian and political scientist Boris Koval.