Konstantin Georgievich Paustovsky was a prominent writer, romantic, and master of literary style — the author of numerous short stories, novellas, and novels, as well as a literary traveler whose works vividly portrayed the life of Ukraine, Russia, and the Black Sea region.
Early YearsHe was born on 31 May 1892 in Moscow. His family moved several times: first to Pskov, then to Vilnius, and later settled in Kyiv. Paustovsky studied at the Kyiv Classical Gymnasium. In 1906 he visited Odesa for the first time, where he saw the sea. In the sixth grade, after his parents’ divorce, he began tutoring to earn money.

In 1911, his first short story “On the Water” was published in the Kyiv magazine Ognis. The following year he enrolled at the History and Philology Faculty of Kyiv University, and in 1914 transferred to the Law Faculty of Moscow University.
Adulthood and WarWith the outbreak of the First World War, as the youngest son in the family, Paustovsky was exempt from military service and worked as a tram conductor. In the autumn of 1914, he enlisted as a medical orderly on a rear hospital train transporting the wounded across central Russia, and in 1915 was transferred to Field Medical Train No. 255. Later that year, he joined a field detachment retreating from Poland to Belarus.

In 1915, Paustovsky’s essay “Letters from the War” was published. In the summer of 1916, he married Kateryna Zagorska. After the deaths of his two elder brothers on the front, he returned to Moscow and worked at metallurgical plants in Katerynoslav and Yuzivka, at a boiler factory in Taganrog, and later as a fisherman on the Sea of Azov. In Taganrog he began writing the novel “The Romantics” (1916–1923, published in 1935).
Period of Work in UkraineAfter the February Revolution, Paustovsky returned to Moscow and joined the staff of the newspaper News of the Moscow Governorate. At the end of 1918, he left Moscow and returned to Ukraine: he worked as a journalist in Kyiv, and in the autumn of 1919 moved to Odesa, where he lived until 1922. He collaborated with Odesa newspapers and, after the arrival of the Red Army, worked for the provincial food committee (Oprodkomgub), later for the newspaper Sailor.

In Odesa, Paustovsky became acquainted and formed friendships with I. Babel, E. Bagrytsky, I. Ilf, and other Odesa writers. In January 1922, he sailed aboard the Dmitry steamer to Sevastopol, then lived in Sukhumi, Batumi, Tbilisi, Yerevan, and Baku, publishing in the newspapers Mayak (Batumi) and Gudok Zakavkazya (Tbilisi). In 1923, Paustovsky returned to Moscow and spent several years working as an editor for the Russian Telegraph Agency (ROSTA).
Literary CareerIn 1928, Paustovsky’s short story collection “Meeting Ships” was published, and in the same year he wrote the novel “Shining Clouds”, which drew on autobiographical episodes from his travels across the Black Sea and the Caucasus. He published in the newspapers On Watch, Pravda, and in the journals 30 Days and Our Achievements.

In 1932, after the success of the novella “Kara-Bogaz”, Paustovsky left journalism and traveled widely: to the Kola Peninsula, Central Asia, Crimea, Altai, Pskov, Novgorod, and Belarus. His favorite region, however, remained central Russia, particularly Meshchora. In 1934, his novella “Colchis” was published — one of its characters was based on the Georgian painter Niko Pirosmani. In 1936 he wrote “The Black Sea”, based on autobiographical events.

During this period several historical novellas appeared: “The Fate of Charles Lonceville” (1933), “Orest Kiprensky” (1936), “Isaac Levitan” (1937), “Taras Shevchenko” (1938), as well as the books “The Constellation of the Hunting Dogs” (1937) and “Northern Tale” (1938).