Children's Writers are People Who Never Grew Up

April 2 is a special day for children. It was on this day that the Danish storyteller Hans Christian Anderson was born many years ago. In honour of him, the Day of Children's Books is celebrated all over the world on April 2. EURSIA KIDS organized a virtual meeting with the writer, who has been giving joy to children with her work for many years. Ksenia Dragunskaya knows first-hand what an ideal children's book should be. She has written 15 books for children that have received a warm response from readers. However, despite her success, Ksenia sincerely and openly talked on a variety of topics.

Love of books. Love of books should be instilled in a child even befor his birth. He must understand that parents read at home, that parents and grandparents discuss books among themselves, live with books.

Favourite children's books. As a child, I read the book by Irina Shkarovskaya "Will never fade away". Few have heard of her. This book is about the 1920s in Kiev. Pioneers catch street children and guide them on the right path. There are a lot of favourite books. For example, "The Tale of the Red-haired Girl" by Lydia Budogoska and "The Adventure of the Little Man" by Ivan Vasilenko. For some reason, I was interested in books about the past. I read them with pleasure. Books about modernity seemed to me fake. There have always been divisions into good and bad: positive and negative characters. The goodies always beat the bad ones; it was so predictable. I wanted something different.

What people prevail. There are definitely more good people, in other case the world would stop, and nothing would have happened. And in literature, it seems to me, there are more good characters. In adult books, they may be ambiguous, but, nevertheless, they are still good.

Favourite character in Denis's Tales. There are a lot of minor characters that many may not notice. There is a little-known story “Uncle Pavel - a stoker”, it is very rarely published. Perhaps Uncle Pavel is my favourite character.

The age limit. Children are completely different. What can be read to one child at the age of 10 cannot be read to another at 15. Parents should still carry out the main censorship.

Deniska's prototype. My older brother Denis Viktorovich served as a source of inspiration for my father. But in fact, I think that it was a collective image of the children he knew and with whom he communicated.

Obligatory genre. I would advise everyone to read A.S. Pushkin, his prose and poetry. This is a very cleansing reading that strengthens your spirit and is interesting. Besides, Pushkin was very young when he wrote his works. Therefore, I think that he is closer to modern guys. Gogol is also an excellent writer. You need to read books that unite people and the whole country.

Perfect book cover. There should be something interesting written there, some interesting phrase. An unexpected name, a phrase should be in the first place. It is desirable, not very long, and then the picture.

What children's books should teach. Children's books of the 21st century must fight for uniting people of different nations, different social strata. But, most importantly, it must teach to protect nature, so that our young people are more conscious, better than we are.

Ideal time of day for creativity. Working time. A person has biorhythms from 8 am to 8 pm. Then he will just fall asleep. And the fact that many say that they do not sleep at night and write is nonsense.

The talent. It is difficult to say if talent exists or one needs to learn everything with great difficulty. Everyone has it differently. For example, I was absolutely stupid in algebra, physics, chemistry, geometry, but I was very cool at writing essays in Russian and in English. PR plays a big role now. A person can poorly own a word, but PR can put him on the pedestal of writers of all times and peoples. A lot depends on PR, but it seems to me that the most honest thing would be to rely on talent.

The happiness. Happiness is a moment. It cannot last forever. Happiness depends on how much you are able to experience it. Happiness is when trouble has passed you or your loved ones. Happiness is bliss.

The work on books. The least time I wrote the book called Honest Stories. I wrote it during the Great Lent, that is, in 49 days. And the longest I was writing an adult book. This is a novel called "You Can't Go There". I worked on it for a year and two months and finished it "thanks to" the pandemic, because I couldn't go anywhere, and I was sitting at home.

Favourite format of books. Printed books are great. I don't understand at all how one can read e-books. A book is something that you can rustle and flip through, and not something that you need to read, damaging your eyesight.

The school. The pupils of the school I studied at were very colourful. Children of actors, diplomats and writers studied there, but at the same time, children from problem families too. And everyone helped each other. And once the school was set on fire by three girls. The director had the deepest shock; he stood on the ruins and recited poetry. We then went to the second shift at a nearby school to continue studying.

Advice to aspiring writers. It is necessary to write about what a person knows well and about what really interests him. You don't have to try to write about some trendy topics. Yes, most likely, it will be well received by the readers, but it will not have a big impact.

Wish to young journalists. I could wish to raise cultural level, because sometimes you meet with such journalists that they simply cannot be allowed into the house beyond the hallway. Improve your speech, language, enrich your vocabulary, and adhere to etiquette. A journalist communicates with a certain person on behalf of society. This is actually a very demanding job.

The manuscripts. I only write by hand. At home I have a huge number of scribbled notebooks and sheets. I love writing with my hand and I think that this is an important part of the work. It seems to me that the hand is connected to the brain and therefore it is very important to write by hand. It was not without reason that the character of a person was determined by handwriting before. I don’t throw away my drafts until I pick up an already finished book.

Read the news of the EURASIA KIDS project here.