Encyclopedia

Zoya Egorovna Prokopyeva was born into a family of a peasant woman and a blacksmith. From an early age, her life was accompanied by difficulties: after 1938, the family was left without a breadwinner. Since childhood, she was brought up in difficult conditions, which were later reflected in her work.

• 15.11. 1936

  Birth

  She was born in the village of Belozersky, Chelyabinsk region (now the territory of the Kurgan region) in the family of a peasant woman and a blacksmith.
• 1949

  Move

  Zoya and her family moved to Chelyabinsk, where her working life began. Prokopyeva received her secondary education at the school of working youth, combining her studies with work.
• 1968

  Literary debut

  Literary debut in the collection "The First Story"
• 1971

  First book

  The first book, a collection of short stories "Liyushka", was published and was warmly received by local critics.
• 1973

  Joining the Union of Writers of the USSR

  She joined the Union of Writers of the USSR and received a referral to Higher Literary Courses, after which she continued to actively engage in literary activities, heading the Bureau of Propaganda of Fiction of the Chelyabinsk region.
• 1958-1968

  She was a member of the women's yacht team and passed the largest rivers of Russia and Ukraine, as well as the Azov and Black Seas.
• 1960-1970

  She has been actively published in the Ural magazine and other regional collections
• 2010

  Receiving an award

  Zoya Prokopyeva received the P. P. Bazhov Prize for the novel "In Its Own Way", which was recognition of her contribution to Russian literature.

Chelyabinsk, which became native to Zoya Prokopyeva, preserves traces of her creative path and working life. One of the key places associated with Prokopieva is the Chelyabinsk Metallurgical Plant, where she began her career and participated in the Metallurg lithobunion.

This place became for her not only a work school, but also a starting point in literary activity, giving inspiration for her early stories. Another significant place is the building of the Chelyabinsk branch of the Union of Writers of Russia, where Prokopyeva worked after graduating from Higher Literary Courses and headed the Bureau of Propaganda of Fiction. These locations reflect the writer’s close connection with the working culture and literary life of the region.