Eduard Nikolayevich Uspensky (Russian: Эдуа́рд Никола́евич Успе́нский; born December 22, 1937) is a Russian writer and author of several children's books. Among his most beloved characters are a serious but adventurous boy known, for his serious disposition, by the sardonic nickname of Uncle Fyodor (Дядя Фёдор), from Uncle Fyodor, His Dog and His Cat; and the anthropomorphic duo of Crocodile Gena (Крокодил Гена) and Cheburashka (Чебурашка), featured in a children's novel by Uspensky about the adventures of the two animal friends.

Biography

Uspensky was born in Yegoryevsk, in Moscow Oblast into a Russian family.[2] His father Nikolai Mikhailovich Uspensky came from the city of Yelets and was a distant relative of Tikhon Khrennikov. He served as a high-ranking official in the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Eduard's mother Natalia Alexeevna Uspenskaya (neeDzurova) was an engineering technologist from Vyshny Volochyok. She came from a merchantry social estate. Her paternal ancestors were Poles who were resettled in Russia after one of the Polish uprisings.

In 1941 with the start of the war the family was evacuated to Siberia where they spent two years. They returned to Moscow later on. After graduating as an engineer, Uspensky earned his living by writing and producing animations.

Besides writing and producing, Uspensky has enjoyed a professional role as a long-lasting figure in radio and television. He was among the founders of the longest-running Russian children's TV show Spokoynoy nochi, malyshi! and the popular radio programme Radio Nanny (Радионяня; Radionyanya), produced with the aim of featuring songs and humorous dialogue as integral elements of an educational radio programme explaining concepts in grammar, mathematics, scientific subjects, and courteous behaviour to children. In recent years, he has been working as host of the musical TV show V Nashu Gavan' Zahodili Korabli, dedicated to bringing old popular songs, performed by talented amateur singers, to nostalgic older audiences.

In addition to children's books, Uspensky's creative output also includes plays and poems.

Uspensky's work in literature

Uspensky's first book about Uncle Fyodor, Uncle Fyodor, His Dog and His Cat, was first published in Russian in 1974. The main character is a six-year-old boy who is called Uncle Fyodor because he is very serious. After his parents don't let him keep Matroskin, a talking cat, Uncle Fyodor leaves his home. With the dog Sharik, the three set up a home in the country, a village called Prostokvashino (Простоквашино, from the Russian for buttermilk, Простоквашa). After finding a treasure, Uncle Fyodor can afford to buy a tractor that runs on soup and potatoes, and a portable sun to do the heating during the winter. The book was made into a successful animated film, Three from Prostokvashino (and its two sequels). Uspensky continued with Uncle Fyodor in other books which have not, however, been as successful.

Selected books

• Crocodile Gena and His Friends (1966)
• Uncle Fedya, His Dog, and His Cat (1974)
• The Little Warranty People (1975)

Selected screenplays

• Gena the Crocodile (1969)
• Merry Carousel (1969, 1971, 1988)
• Cheburashka (1971)
• Shapoklyak (1974)
• Three from Prostokvashino (1978)
• Uncle AU (1979)
• Holidays in Prostokvashino (1980)
• Plasticine Crow (1981)
• Along Unknown Paths (1982)
• Cheburashka Goes to School (1983)
• Winter in Prostokvashino (1984)
• About Vera and Anfisa (1986)
• Investigation Held by Kolobki (1986-1987)
• Cheburashka (2013)