How do beginner writers fare in your country?
Since we regard the people's talents as part of the country's wealth, it would mean an irreplaceable
loss if a real talent is overlooked. So society as a whole is interested in the fate of young writers. That being the case, practical assistance is always forthcoming. There are numerous literary studios, and associations, established writers help beginners, and conferences and meetings are arranged for the young which help them to work out their own style. And all this is, of course, free of charge.
These activities are coordinated by the Council for work with the young at the Soviet Writers' Union. This Council has done a great deal to introduce the works of young writers to the public. The "Molodaya Gvardia" Publishing House, for instance, puts out two special series, one prose and the other poetry, of exclusively young authors. As a result, about 600 works by beginners have been published in the past five years alone. Publishing houses in Siberia, Byelorussia, Latvia and the Ukraine follow a similar policy.
The literary magazines published in Moscow, like "Moskva", "Oktyabr," "Novy Mir" and "Znamya", devote one issue (of their twelve) each year to young writers. Two other magazines that are always on the lookout for works by new promising writers are "Yunost" and "Nash Sovremennik".
Young writers today for the most part are not youngsters straight out of college. All have had a certain amount of life experience. They cannot be accused of knowing nothing about life or being infantile. Among the authors who have recently won fame with their first books are a miner, a scientist, a mining engineer, the captain of a seiner, a journalist and a worker. As the well-known Soviet author Sergei Antonov remarked: "They have no need to invent a plot or ingenious details. Their working life offers them plenty of material-right up-to-date, fresh, burning issues."
Indeed, the young writers turn to the burning issues of Soviet life, working with material close to their own hearts.