Valentin Kataev (1897–1986) was a novelist, poet, screenwriter and dramatist, journalist, war correspondent. His first poem Autumn was introduced to the readers in 1910. In 1922, he moved from Odessa to Moscow, where he began to work fruitfully on the staff of The Whistle (Gudok) newspaper, where his satirical and humorous articles were regularly published. During this period, he makes public his novel The Embezzlers followed by novel The Quadrature of the Circle in 1928. In parallel with his books, V. Kataev was enriching his filmography. Kataev produced his first film, The Embezzlers, in 1931. It was followed by film The Circus, and still later by film The Motherland Calls On. Kataev's all-round maturity manifested itself again when the writer gave children and young people such excellent fairy tales as The Dovelet and The Seven-Petal Flower. During the Great Patriotic War, Valentin Kataev worked as a war correspondent. Nevertheless, even in that busy period, when one trip succeeded another, Kataev continued to write many essays, novels (Our Father). In 1945, he wrote fairy tales The Stump and The Pearlet. Shortly before the Victory, Kataev wrote his novel The Son of the Regiment, for which he was awarded the State Prize. From 1955 to 1961, Kataev edited the Youth (Yunost) magazine. In 1974, Valentin Kataev was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor.
The envelope with a commemorative stamp features children reading a book, as well as images of characters from the writings by V Katayev: Seven-Petal Flower and The Son of the Regiment; the stamp provides the portrait of the writer.
| Denomination |
Paper |
Printing method |
Format of the envelope |
Edition |
| Letter “A” |
High Whiteness Modified (HWM) |
Offset |
110 × 220 mm |
1,0 million copies |