Konstantin Mikhailovich Simonov (born Kirill; November 15 [28], 1915, Petrograd – August 28, 1979, Moscow) was a Soviet prose writer, poet, playwright, and screenwriter, as well as a public figure, journalist, and war correspondent.
He was born on November 28, 1915, in Petrograd, into the family of Major General Mikhail Simonov (who went missing during World War I) and Princess Alexandra Obolenskaya. He was named Kirill at birth. He was raised by his stepfather, Alexander Ivanishev, a military specialist.
After completing seven years of schooling, he trained as a turner. In 1931, an important event occurred in Simonov’s life: he moved to Moscow, where he worked at a factory until 1935.
In 1938, Simonov graduated from the Literary Institute. By that time, he had already published several works.
In 1939, he was sent as a war correspondent to the Khalkhin Gol conflict zone, where he worked for the newspaper Heroic Red Army Soldier. Shortly before leaving for the front, he permanently changed his name, taking the pseudonym Konstantin Simonov. The reason was his speech impediment: he had difficulty pronouncing the sounds “r” and hard “l”, making the name “Kirill” difficult for him to articulate.
Konstantin Mikhailovich became the author of numerous novellas, short stories, plays, novels, poems, and verses. After the war, he served for some time as editor-in-chief of the journal Novy Mir, and later of Literaturnaya Gazeta.
As a war correspondent, he visited all major fronts of the Great Patriotic War. In 1942, he was awarded the rank of senior battalion commissar; in 1944, he became a lieutenant colonel. The war became—and remained for the rest of his life—the central theme of Simonov’s work.
His poem “Wait for Me”, dedicated to his beloved, actress Valentina Serova, became a kind of anthem for the wives and girlfriends of Soviet soldiers. (Simonov was married four times.)
Many significant films were based on Simonov’s works, including A Guy from Our City (1942), The Immortal Garrison (1956), The Alive and the Dead (1964), Retribution (1967), and others.
Konstantin Simonov died of lung cancer on August 28, 1979, at age 63 in Moscow. According to his will, his ashes were scattered over the Buinichi Field near Mogilev.
