Ivan Sokolov-Mikitov  Ivan Sergeevich Sokolov-Mikitov (Иван Серге′евич Соколо′в-Микито′в, May 30 (17) 1882 - February 20, 1975) was a Russian/Soviet writer and journalist who took part in numerous journeys and expeditions (including the famous Otto Schmidt-led trip to the Arctic Circle on icebreaker "Georgy Sedov" in 1929-1930). Sokolov-Mikitov, best known for his engaging traveller's sketches, was also regarded as a fine nature-observing stylist, in the line of Konstantin Paustovsky and Mikhail Prishvin. Following the tradition of Russian realism (that of Tolstoy, Chekhov and Bunin), but still influenced by 1900s modernist authors (mostly Aleksey Remizov, his good friend and mentor), Sokolov-Mikitov developed his individual style of writing, incorporating elements of traditional Russian folk tales, bylinas and fables. Autobiographical novel "Childhood" (1931) is regarded as one of his finest. Ivan Sokolov was born in a place called ""urochishche" Oseki", in Kaluga Governorate, Russian Empire, to a family of the manager of a timber estate of wealthy merchant family of Konshins. Sergey Nikitich Sokolov (a variation on whose father's name, [M]ikita, he later used as a second part to his nom-de-plume), and Maria Ivanovna Sokolova (1870—1939), a peasant woman. He spent his early years in Smolenskaya gubernia, at Kislovo village, his father's homeland. In 1903 Ivan Sokolov entered the Alexandrovsky school in Smolensk, dropped in 1910 (for alleged participation in local revolutionary circles) and moved to Saint Petersburg where he enrolled at the State agricultural management's four-year courses. In Petersburg he's met Aleksey Remizov, Alexander Kuprin, Mikhail Prishvin and started to write; his debut "Salt of the Earth" short story, a complicated folklore-influenced piece, was dedicated to Remizov, his friend and critic. In the early 1910s Sokolov moved to Revel where he started to contribute to the "Revelsky listok" newspaper; by this time he's developed new passions, to seafaring and aviation.