Dmitry Kholendro

Dmitry Mikhailovich Kholendro was born in 1921 in Tashkent into a family of white-collar workers (some sources give 2 November as the date). He began publishing in 1938, entered the Moscow Institute of Philosophy, Literature and History in 1939 and was drafted into the army the same year.

In the Second World War he was a senior literary staff member of the front-line newspaper «Vpered za Rodinu!», was wounded and took part in the Kerch–Eltigen landing operation; he joined the Party in 1944. He was a member of the Union of Writers of the USSR from 1950 and completed the Higher Literary Courses at the Gorky Literature Institute in 1956.

He wrote a novel, novellas, story collections and plays, among them «Mountains in Bloom», «A Dangerous Cape», «The Cannon» and «A Trip to Sayat»; many of his works deal with the Black Sea. «A Trip to Sayat» grew out of the screenplay of the 1966 film «The Bell of Sayat».

For Uzbekfilm he wrote the screenplays of «The Bell of Sayat» (1966), «Apples of the Year Forty-One» (1969), «The Street of Thirteen Poplars» (1969), «Chinara» (1973) and «Aerial Walkers» (1979); he also worked with the Yalta Film Studio.

He was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st class (1985), two Orders of the Red Star (1943, 1944), the Order of the Badge of Honour (1981) and medals. He died in 1998 and is buried in the columbarium of the Novoye Donskoye Cemetery in Moscow.