Agniya Lvovna Barto (Russian: А́гния Льво́вна Барто́, IPA: [ˈaɡnʲɪjə ˈlʲvovnə bɐrˈto] ; 17 February [O.S. 4 February] 1901 – 1 April 1981) was a Russian Soviet poet and children's writer of Belarusian Jewish origin.
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Early life and education
Agniya was born Gitel Leybovna Volova in Moscow to a Belarusian Jewish family. Her father, Lev Nikolayevich Volov, was a veterinarian from Šiauliai, and her mother, Maria (née Blokh), was from Kaunas, Lithuania. Her mother's brother was Grigory Blokh, a famous otolaryngologist and phthisiologist. Agniya studied at a ballet school. She liked poetry and soon started to write her own, trying to imitate Anna Akhmatova and Vladimir Mayakovsky. She read her poetry at the graduation ceremony from the ballet school. Among the guests was the Minister of Education Anatoly Lunacharsky who remarked that instead of becoming a ballerina she should be a professional poet. According to legend, despite the fact that all of Barto's poetry at that time was about love and revolution, Lunacharsky predicted that she would become a famous children's poet.
Career
Agniya married ornithologist and poet Pavel Barto, grandson of an English-born merchant Richard Barto. Some of her children's poems were published under two names: Agniya Barto and Pavel Barto. In 1925 she published her first books: Chinese boy Wang-Li (Китайчонок Ван-Ли) and Mishka the Petty Thief (Мишка-Воришка). Subsequently, she published The First of May (Первое мая), 1926 and Brothers (Братишки), 1928 which received a positive review from Korney Chukovsky. After publishing a book of poetic miniatures for toddlers entitled Toys (Игрушки) in 1936, she suddenly became one of the most popular children's authors, with millions of published copies.