Strelnikova: Books are like children: the most beloved child is the one with whom it is most difficult

A correspondent from "RG" visited Strelnikova's meetings with schoolchildren from Pskov and Ostrov during the animation and literature festival "Pushkin. Mikhailovskoye". "12-13 years old is my favorite age! The most emotional," Kristina admitted.

We complain that our children do not read books, that they are not interested in anything except gadgets. Is this true? There were many questions. From the very "childish", simple ones: "Did you write all this yourself?" (seeing several volumes laid out on the table) to "What to do if you have a creative crisis?"

What is your favorite book of yours?

Kristina Strelnikova: "The Day of the Deaf Whale". Books are like children: the most beloved child is the one with whom it is most difficult, he takes more strength, time, is given in blood and emotions. I was very worried about this book, I had to believe in the problems of my hero myself, even cry because of him, and I went deaf in one ear for some time. Psychology. I had to imagine what it is like for a person who suddenly lost his hearing. I had to hear nothing on the street, in the subway, when talking to someone. The hero of the book is a boy who lost his hearing because he was constantly shouted at. I read about such psychogenic deafness – a person does not want to hear something and closes himself off, runs away from experiences. Although many adults believe that this does not happen.

Is this a story from life?

Kristina Strelnikova : I have often observed teenagers covering their ears or putting on headphones and telling their parents: "I can't hear you!" But what if this actually happens – the person stops hearing?

Do you read what people write to you on social networks? Do you respond?

Kristina Strelnikova: I'll answer. The story about the whale was published in the magazines "Koster", "Zvezda", after that letters came from children of 13 years old. And also from adults who remembered their childhood or shared stories about their relationships with children.

Is it possible to read your books online?

Kristina Strelnikova: Publishers post fragments, I don't post anything on the Internet – I don't have the rights to do that. Publishers also post electronic books on the appropriate platforms.

What did you like to read as a child?

Kristina Strelnikova: Fairy tales, of course. I loved "Down with the Cucumber King" by Christine Nostlinger. When I grew up, I read all of her works. Among realistic stories, my favorite book, worn to holes, was "The Beautiful Sophomore" by Valery Alekseev. And his "The Cat with the Golden Tail".

Which subjects were you better at at school – humanities?

Kristina Strelnikova: I loved Russian language and literature. I didn't study the rules. Intuition helped, as they say – I had innate literacy (not everyone believes in it). I read a lot. My mother taught Russian and literature, but not in my class. And some people thought that she wrote my essays for me. But she had no time for me – she had a hundred students!

Is mom proud of her daughter now?

Kristina Strelnikova: She is proud. They write about her in books now (Nina Palna is my mother, only her real name is Lyudmila Borisovna). And she reads publications about her daughter. She lives in Ufa. She says that now she would stage plays at school based on my books or hold a library event – she was both a librarian and a director at the school theater.

How many shelves of books have you filled already?

Kristina Strelnikova: One, probably. Depends on which shelf (laughs).

School stories – where did you get them?

Kristina Strelnikova : From my childhood. And my mother also told me about her children, as well as her teacher friends. Then my daughter started bringing stories from school – funny and problematic.

I visited children. I read books to them, listened to stories. Based on the stories of fifth- and sixth-grade schoolchildren, I created a book called "Not VKontakte."

My only autobiographical book is "Lenka and I. Not a day without adventures." It is based on real events. These are stories about my girlfriend and me.

Are you friends with Lenka now? Has she read the book?

Kristina Strelnikova : I read it. And I laughed so hard! We remembered our childhood. She still lives in Ufa. Elena inspires me a lot when, after reading a story, she starts asking: "Do you remember, do you remember?" And it turns out that our childhood was so big and amazing that the memories are endless.

And the librarians write to me: “Come to us with your friend Lenka!”

The book "Lenka and I" is currently being prepared by the publishing house "Dom Detskoy Knigi – Detskoye Vremya" (St. Petersburg). This is an expanded story. Initially, the manuscript consisted of two parts. Only the first part was published by the publishing house "Vakosha", but here there will be two at once, in the second part the girls have grown up a little.

Do you like happy endings? As a reader and as a writer.

Kristina Strelnikova : Critics probably love happy endings. They even wrote to me: why did we read a book if it ends badly? There needs to be a life-affirming ending. And teenagers are ready for different endings, they understand that not everything always works out well in life, happy endings are all fairy tales, sweet sugar.

For example, I was asked to rewrite the ending of the book "The Day of the Deaf Whale." At first it ended like this: a boy loses his hearing, decides to stay and live in a boarding school – with people like him, with those who understand him. I made a different ending – I returned his hearing. Then "The Whale" was accepted into a magazine for blind and visually impaired children, and they told me: "Our children are used to living in a different world, they will not believe in such miracles, fairy tales. Can you write a more realistic ending?" I returned my previous version, and the story was published, including in Braille.

Have you ever had a creative crisis when you had nothing to write about?

Kristina Strelnikova: I have another version: a creative crisis – when there are many ideas, plans, but no time to implement them. You have to not go to work to write books.

By the way

Kristina Strelnikova is the author of the books "Letters to the Unicorn", "Names on the Shards", "Through the Eyes of a Doll", "The Magnificent Venya Venchikov", "The Paths of Aida", "Not on VKontakte", "Heart under the Left Pocket", "Don't Interfere with the Horse's Balance" and others .