Boris Vladimirovich Zakhoder was born on September, 9th 1918 in the Moldavian city of Kogul, where his parents had met for the first time and got married. In 1914 Boris' father volunteered to the Russian army, while his mother worked as a nurse, taking care of wounded soldiers in the hospital.

However, Zakhoder's family did not stay in Moldova for long: at first they moved to Odessa, and then to Moscow. His father graduated the Moscow University and became a lawyer, and his mother, being a well-educated woman with a mastery of several foreign languages, worked as a translator.

He participated in the Soviet-Finnish and the Great Patriotic wars as a volunteer, engaged in the army press. During the short interval between two wars he wrote verses and essays on building of the VDNKh – the All-Union Exhibition of National Economy Achievements.

In 1946, after the war, Boris Zakhoder returned to Moscow, and on the following year graduated from the Literary Institute.

Boris Zakhoder’s first children’s poem "Sea Fight" was published under the pseudonym Boris Vest in the Zateink Journal in 1947.

The famous writer Lev Kassil spoke highly of Boris Zakhoder's works and foretold him great popularity. Later his poems and tales regularly appeared in children’s journals and newspapers. He also wrote a number of books for children.

Boris Vladimirovich Zakhoder gained immense popularity primarily as the creative translator (often the first one) of well-known foreign children's fairy tales, such as Winnie the Pooh, Alice in Wonderland, Mary Poppins, Peter Pan, and many others. Zakhoder’s way of translation was always that of free retelling, involving his own creativity, and thus harmoniously introducing works of foreign literature into the reading sphere of Russians of all ages. Quite a number of his literary adaptations served as basis for musical, stage, radio and TV interpretations.

His witty and fresh poetic language is also characteristic of his “grown-up” poems (Listki, Zakhoderzosti, etc.)

Widely known in this country and abroad, the winner of numerous literary prizes (including the International Andersen Prize), Boris Zakhoder brilliantly fused classical traditions of Russian literature with word-creation attainments of the Silver Age.

Boris Zakhoder died in Moscow on November, 7th, 2000.