Radii Pogodin is a soldier of the Great Patriotic War, who volunteered to the front-line from the blockaded Leningrad. One can read the epoch in his life story, and see meanings and symbols of time in his writings. His works became known in the mid 20th century.

Radii Petrovich Pogodin was born into a peasant family on August, 16th, 1925 in Duplyovo Village, now the Bologovsky District of the Tver Region. The same year his family moved to Leningrad (Petersburg).

When the Great Patriotic War broke out the young man started working as a mechanic in automobile repair shops for the Northwest front-line.

In 1942 together with his family he was evacuated from Leningrad to the Perm Region. Radii worked as an electrician and a coal-heaver in an orphan home.

After finishing infantry school Pogodin volunteered to the field army. He participated in clearing of the left bank of Ukraine, forced crossing of River Dnieper, and was wounded. After the hospital he was directed to serve in the tank army. He took part in fights for Iasi (Romania), liberation of Lublin and Warsaw (Poland) from the German troops and seizure of Berlin. In 1945 he was transferred to the reserve in the sergeant rank.

In 1946 he started working in fire-fighting service in Moscow. He started to get his writings published in the departmental factory newspaper “Fighting signal”.

In 1946 facing the danger of a political arrest, like many creative people in those years, had to get out of sight and wandered around the country. Finally he voluntary surrendered to the officials and had to serve a term from 1948 to 1950. Afterwards he returned to Leningrad, where he got married and had a daughter born in 1953. The family moved to Ioshkar Ola, where he started working on the radio.

In 1954 Radii Pogodin again returned to Leningrad and went on working on the radio. Finally he had his first short story published – it was “The Frost” issued in Friendship Almanac. The year 1957 saw the writer’s first book “Ants’ Oil” published. In 1959 Radii Petrovich Pogodin became a member of the Writers’ Union of the USSR.

Year after year he wrote books, plays and scenarios. Altogether he wrote more than 20 children’s books, many of them translated and published in over twenty languages. So Radii Petrovich never abandoned children’s books, and went on writing fairy tales. His last tale “About a girl named Polya and her lonely life” was written in 1992, and he still worked on its editing in 1993.

Along with writing, Radii Petrovich was also into oil painting. He worked in his studio till the very last days, while he could still walk. His paintings are kept in the house of Radii Pogodin as well as in the Leningrad Regional Children’s Library.

Radii Pogodin died on March, 30th, 1993 and was laid down to rest at the Volkovsky cemetery in Saint Petersburg.