ValentinKurbatovwas bornon September 29, 1939, in Stary Salavan, Ulyanovsk Region. He is a writer and a literary critic, a member of the Writers’ Union of Russia, a member of editorial boards for several literary magazines. He was decorated with the Order of Friendship and the Pushkin medal. He is a winner of literary and public awards.
Valentin Kurbatov was blessed with the opportunity for close, creative and personal communication with Russia’s greatest writers of the 20th century. Having an outstanding literary gift, he dedicated himself to what used to be called “enlightenment.”
Valentin Kurbatov’s books on Viktor Astafyev, Valentin Rasputin and Mikhail Prishvin; his essays on works by Yury Nagibin, Bulat Okujava, Vladimir Lichutin and Konstantin Vorobyov are now a true and perhaps the only guide to lead a contemporary reader into the world of ideas, sentiments and images of Russian literature of the recent past. While maintaining loyalty to the principles of the great Russian literature of the 19th century, Valentin Kurbatov tirelessly and devotedly serves the art of Russian literature, a literature that preserves traditional moral values, a people’s spiritual experience, historical memory and the wealth of the Russian language for generations to come.
Valentin Kurbatov’s works incorporate poetry, philosophy, painting and music; they sustain faith in Russian lore and arouse sincere interest in readers of different generations.