Leonid Solovyov

Born in Tripoli, Syria (now Lebanon) where his father taught at the Russian consulate, Leonid Solovyov began writing as a newspaper correspondent (in Uzbek) for the Pravda Vostoka, published in Tashkent. His first book was Lenin in Eastern Folk Art (Moscow, 1930), which he described as "a volume of Central Asian post-revolutionary folklore." His masterpiece is Tale of Hodja Nasreddin, which Alexei Tolstoy hailed as a work of unusual talent.During the Second World War, Solovyov served as a war correspondent and produced several wartime stories and screenplays.In 1946, Solovyov was accused of conspiring to commit acts of terrorism against the Soviet state. He was interned in several prison camps until 1954, when he was cleared of all charges and released. The second part of The Tale of Hodja Nasreddin, subtitled "The Enchanted Prince", was written in the prison camps and completed around 1950. After his release, Solovyov settled in Leningrad. The two parts of The Tale of Hodja Nasreddin were published together for the first time in 1956 and enjoyed a very favorable reception.The Tale of Hodja Nasreddin, contains two novels: Disturber of the Peace, or Hodja Nasreddin in Bokhara (Возмутитель спокойствия) and The Enchanted Prince (Очарованный принц). The whole novel has been translated into dozens of languages including Turkish, Persian, Hindi, Uzbek and Hebrew.He died in Leningrad at age 55.