Kozlov, William Fedorovich

Born on November 3, 1929 in the village of Kuzhenkino, Bologovsky District ^[1] . He was named Vil in honor of V. I. Lenin . Father - Ivan Vasilyevich Nadtocheev - of noble origin, mother - from Tver peasants. In 1933, his parents divorced. In 1936, his mother married Kozlov Fyodor Konstantinovich, who adopted Vil and his sister Tamara. At school, he disliked his name, and he began to call himself Williams. "C" eventually disappeared.

He matured early - already during the war he began his career. He worked on a collective farm , at a sawmill, draftsman, surveyor , radio equipment installer, actor in the theater.

In 1950 he entered the Kharkov Aviation School of Communications , which he graduated in 1952 .

Then there was a photojournalist of the regional newspaper, special correspondent; in 1954 he studied at the philological department at the pedagogical institute. In 1955 he was sent to study in Leningrad , where in 1959 he graduated from the journalism department of the Leningrad Higher Party School.

At the same time he collaborated with the newspapers Velikolukskaya Pravda and Vecherny Leningrad . Essays and stories were published in newspapers and magazines.

In 1960 he published his first book - a collection of short stories "Valerka-Chairman", then the novels "Yurka Gus", "At the old mill", "Kopeyka" were published.

The author of about fifty books, both for children and for adults.

In 1990, he signed the Letter of the 74th .

Recently, William Kozlov lived in winter, spring and autumn in St. Petersburg , and in the summer in the Pskov region , in the village of Prudok.

He died on April 13, 2009 after a serious illness. He was buried in the cemetery in the city of Velikie Luki .

Son - a writer Yuri Williamovich Kozlov .

• White horse with a golden mane
• Valerka-Chairman
• Wind over your house
• Vitka Grokhotov and his company
• Vitka from Chapaevskaya street
• Wolf and Owl
• Veronica's hair
• Guest from the forest
• Handful of fishing hooks
• His blue star
• We are going to Vyal-lake
• Golden loop
• Idol from the old chest
• When the gods are deaf
• Penny
• Red Sky
• Where do swallows fly
• Boy with a dog
• We leave home
• Two Petit
• In the old mill
• Pashkin aircraft
• Come sunday
• Stories about Vasya Snegirev
• Birch Date
• Falcon hunting
• Small archer
• Sun on the wall
• Mystery of the Dead Lake
• Three versts with hook
• Hear you
• Yurka Gus
• I am in a hurry for happiness

President of the Stone Island

• 1. President of Stone Island
• 2. President does not resign.

Andreyevsky Chevalier

• 1. Andreevskiy Chevalier
• 2. When the gods are deaf
• 3. Time to love

And more than 20 novels.

• 1973 - To be happy!
• 1970 - The sun on the wall
• 1964 - Where are you now, Maxim?
• 1961 - The Story of Pies (film # 2 from the film almanac “ Absolutely Serious ”)

Winner of the A. S. Green All-Russian Prize , 2004 Screenplay for the film “The Story of Pies”

In the book “The Unbearable Dovlatov” Elena Klepikova writes: “Seryozha <Dovlatov> didn’t come superstitiously behind manuscripts. His last offering, fortunately, lay in my desk. Just at that time, a new manager appeared in the prose department - William Kozlov. The man is deeply ignorant and prone to instant, without any doubt, actions. On his first working day, Kozlov showed up at the editorial office early in the morning, and soon a group of pioneers rushed in for waste paper ... Seconds without thinking, Kozlov invited them to the prose department and offered the entire cabinet with all the manuscripts, including the Serrazha folder.

There is a mention of William Kozlov and Sergey Dovlatov himself. In the book “Craft” he writes: “In Aurora a very wild story happened. Lena Klepikova approved the stories. I transferred them to the new head of the department - Kozlov. By this time, he had accumulated manuscripts - a whole mountain. Physically strong Kozlov took it all in the trash. Is it possible to read all this? Yes, even an illiterate person ... I received a copy of one of my stories from Aurora. And a note on the form: “Aurora” Social-political, literary and artistic monthly magazine of the Komsomol Central Committee, the Writers' Union of the RSFSR and the Leningrad Writing Organization. Dear Sergey! That found a copy, preserved after the robbery perpetrated by Kozlov. And it's all. The rest, as you know, is gone. Be healthy. Lena. March 10, 1975. However, many people who knew William Kozlov regard this story as an anecdote. For example, the writer's son, Yury Kozlov, considers her to be one hundred percent fiction. He recalls that the working day in Aurora magazine officially began at two in the afternoon, so that early in the morning the pioneers could not get into the editorial office. The manuscripts of Sergey Dovlatov’s works in those years were in many editions and were not printed not because of hostility towards the author, but because of the ideological attitudes that were in effect at the time, which eventually led the writer to emigrate from the USSR. (Literary Gazette No. 7 (2014, p.4). "Yuri Kozlov on religious literature, Dovlatov's manuscripts, fake rulers of thoughts and many other things").

• Works by William Kozlov in the Aldebaran Library
• Club "President of the Stone Island"