Andrey Bitov

The first childhood memories of Andrei Bitov are related to the blockade winter of 1941/42. Then there was an evacuation to the Urals, then moving to Tashkent. In school, he became interested in mountaineering, at the age of 16 he received the “Mountaineer of the USSR” badge. The love of the mountains led him in 1957 to the Leningrad Mining Institute to the geological exploration faculty. He began writing as a student. The institute entered the literary association under the leadership of Gleb Semenov. In 1957, a collection of literary associations, which included the first works of A. Bitov, was burned in the courtyard of the institute in connection with events in Hungary. At the same time there was an exception to the institute and military service. In 1958, he was able to demobilize, to recover at the institute, which he graduated in 1962. In 1991, he was one of the founders of the informal association "BaGaZh" (Bitov, Akhmadulina, Aleshkovsky, Zhvanetsky). He taught at the Literary Institute. Gorky.