The widow of Yevgeny Yevtushenko asked fans and Alla Pugacheva to fulfill the poet’s last wish. Yevtushenko's widow spoke about her return to Russia Yevgenia Yevtushenko's widow Maria Novikova

Quite recently, one of the most remarkable poets of our time, whose poems were read by millions, passed away. Yevgeny Yevtushenko’s wife Maria Novikova was with him until the last minutes, as she has been all the time recently, when her husband began to be seriously ill.

Maria, the poet’s fourth wife, amazed all his loved ones with the dedication with which she cared for her sick husband. She spent a lot of time in American hospitals, trying not to leave her husband alone for a long time.

The marriage with Maria Novikova turned out to be the strongest and longest - Yevtushenko lived with her for thirty years, and they met when Maria was twenty-three years old and he was fifty-three, and on his part it was love at first sight.

By that time, he had already experienced three divorces and was completely free. Yevgeny Yevtushenko's first wife was the poetess Bella Akhmadulina, with whom the affair began when she had just turned eighteen. Their family life could not be called calm - quarrels between the spouses arose often, but they very quickly made up and dedicated poems to each other.

In the photo - Evgeny Yevtushenko and Bella Akhmadulina

Many years later, Yevtushenko recalled with bitterness that he forced his wife to have an abortion when she told him that she was expecting a child - it seemed to him that they were still young and they needed to live for themselves. Evgeniy thought that after the birth of a child, everyday problems would fall on them, which would prevent him from enjoying freedom and creating. Gradually they began to move away from each other, but Yevtushenko did nothing to save the marriage - even when Bella asked him to take him on a creative trip to Siberia in order to somehow improve the relationship, he again wanted not to burden himself and preferred freedom. The poet then grieved for a long time over his lost love and felt guilty that he did not allow his first wife to give birth to a child.

The second wife of Yevgeny Yevtushenko was Galina Sokol-Lukonina. They had known each other for a long time - before Yevtushenko, Galina was married to his friend, the writer Mikhail Lukonin, and the romance between them broke out after Galina separated from her husband, and Yevtushenko separated from Bella. They lived in marriage for seventeen years, but could not give birth to a child, and then they decided to take the baby from the orphanage, and so Petya appeared in their family. Galina worked a lot with her adopted son, who grew up as an athletic child - he swam, ski jumped, and when he grew up, he became an artist. The marriage with Galina broke up due to Evgeniy’s numerous affairs, which his wife was tired of forgiving him. The divorce was accompanied by a long division of numerous paintings given to them by friends, but Yevtushenko and Lukonina, who did not remarry after the divorce, were nevertheless able to maintain friendly relations.

In the photo - the poet with his third wife Jen Butler

The poet's third wife was Irishwoman Jen Butler, his longtime and passionate fan. They lived together for about eight years, Jen gave birth to the poet two sons - Alexander and Anton.

Yevgeny Yevtushenko met his fourth wife in Petrozavodsk, when he signed his books at a local television studio after a performance. He fell in love with Maria just by looking at her hands, and six months later she became his wife. They almost never parted, and when the poet came to Russia, he was always accompanied by his wife. In her marriage to Maria, Yevtushenko had two more sons, and she had enough time and energy to take care of everyone, which her husband often admired.

In the photo - Evgeny Yevtushenko and Maria Novikova with their sons

Their views on literature and politics very often did not coincide, but they always found a common language on any issue and they were never bored together. Maria was always there when he was once again hospitalized and did everything possible to get him out of his next illness, and he dedicated poems to her in which he expressed his love and gratitude.

Maria was grieving the death of her husband, and only thanks to the support of her sons and close friends was she able to come to terms with this grief.

MOSCOW, April 14. /TASS/. The widow of the poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko, who died on April 1 at the age of 85, Maria Yevtushenko, asked all his fans to fulfill the poet’s last wish - to come to the June Moscow concerts, which were planned as anniversary ones. She voiced this request on Friday at a press conference in TASS.

“I ask for help and support from readers, without the public this project will not take place,” she said. “Support us in memory of Evgeniy Alexandrovich.”

According to Maria Yevtushenko, the poet had two dying wishes - one to bury him in the cemetery in Peredelkino - next to the grave of his idol Boris Pasternak, and the second - to hold creative evenings - two big concerts in Moscow.

Yevgeny Yevtushenko developed the plot of these gala evenings and selected poems for the programs himself, said producer Sergei Vinnikov. “His voice will certainly be heard,” he noted. Participation was confirmed by actors Sergei Bezrukov, Maxim Averin, Sergei Shakurov, Dmitry Kharatyan, as well as the Turetsky Choir, singer Valeria, Angelika Varum and others.

“I hope we can persuade Alla Borisovna (Pugacheva),” he added.

My Yevtushenko on social networks

Vinnikov also said that a nationwide campaign #MyYevtushenko has been launched on social networks, in which anyone who cares about the poet’s work and who was a fan and admirer of his talent will be able to take part. “I’m sure there are millions of them in Russia,” he said.

“We invite everyone who expresses a desire to join our action to record a short video message with the motto “This is my Yevtushenko,” he continued. “This could be a few lines from the poet’s favorite poems, memories of what is for each of us meant his name, his work. You need to end your message with the phrase “This is my Yevtushenko.”

At the press conference, it was announced the creation of the Yevtushenko Foundation, which will popularize the poet’s work.

Festival programs in Moscow

On June 4, the program “Evgeny Yevtushenko in symphonic music” will be presented in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory. It will be attended by the Moscow State Symphony Orchestra "Russian Philharmonic", conductor Dmitry Yurovsky, the Academic Choir of Russia named after. A. A. Yurlova, Chamber Choir of the Moscow Conservatory and soloists of Moscow musical theaters.

They will perform Dmitry Shostakovich's "13th Symphony", which was based on five works by Yevtushenko, and above all his famous poem "Babi Yar". There will also be a premiere of Laura Quint's work "Bullfighting Passion", written based on Yevtushenko's poem of the same name and which, in fact, became a requiem for the poet.

On June 13, the State Kremlin Palace will host a musical and poetic performance “If there is Russia, then there will be me,” in which famous theater and film actors will read Yevtushenko’s poems. Before the eyes of the audience, the Book of the Poet’s life will be created, displaying all the main milestones of his fate, as part of the fate of a large country called “Russia”.

The performance, along with those that have already become legendary, will also feature new works created by the poet in recent years. Popular performers will appear on the main stage of the country this evening - Joseph Kobzon, Lev Leshchenko, Alexander Gradsky, Nadezhda Babkina, Igor Nikolaev, Valeria, Intars Busulis, Sergey Volchkov, Dina Garipova, Olga Kormukhina and many others. They will perform songs written in different years based on the poet’s poems.

Producer Sergei Vinnikov also informed that “ticket prices have been reduced by 40% to make the concerts accessible to absolutely all admirers of talent.” The organizers guaranteed affordable prices for tickets, the cost of which starts from 600 rubles.

From the biography

Yevgeny Yevtushenko would have turned 85 on July 18. The poet was born at the Zima station in the Irkutsk region in the family of geologist and amateur poet Alexander Gangnus. His first poem was published in the newspaper "Soviet Sport", and his first book of poems, "Scouts of the Future", was published in 1952, at the same time he became the youngest member of the Union of Writers of the USSR. In 1963 he was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature. He is the author of more than 150 books, which have been translated into many languages ​​of the world.

// Photo: Vladimir Velengurin/Komsomolskaya Pravda / PhotoXPress.ru

On April 1, the famous poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko passed away. The man passed away at the age of 84. In 1991, the famous prose writer was invited to teach in the USA, where he moved with his family - his fourth wife Maria Novikova, who was 30 years younger than him. They had two sons - Evgeniy and Dmitry. After Yevtushenko’s death, the woman, along with her heirs, learns to live without the head of the family. Despite the cruel blow of fate, they are gradually returning to their usual activities.

“Zhenya Yevtushenko found a job, temporary for now, unfortunately. This semester he will teach history at one of the private schools. And Mitya also works, more or less everything is fine. And my school already started on Monday, so I’m again teaching little kids how to speak English correctly,” said the poet’s widow.

Relatives are also worried that everything started by Yevgeny Yevtushenko during his lifetime will receive a logical conclusion. They intend to release the works that the man has been working on recently.

The poet knew about his imminent death - he had been battling cancer, a malignant kidney tumor, for several years. After the operation, the disease subsided, but after a while doctors diagnosed the fourth degree of oncology. Doctors did not hide the disappointing prognosis from relatives - a month later Yevtushenko died, although according to forecasts he should live a little longer. He made sure that his plans and projects saw the light of day. Now the entire family and close friends of Evgeniy Alexandrovich have given up all their strength to fulfill his will.

“The fifth volume of the Anthology of Russian Poetry (and Yevgeny Yevtushenko has been working on this fundamental project for the last few years) will be published in Moscow in September, just in time for the International Book Fair. The sixth volume is also already ready, it should be ready for work,” said Maria Vladimirovna.

The Yevtushenko family is also preparing to present the seventh part of the book, which he began working on in the early 90s. They intend to complete the autobiographical novel “The Bering Tunnel.” Despite the fact that the entire Yevtushenko family has been living abroad for more than 25 years, they regularly come to Russia. Maria Vladimirovna understands that there are many fans of her husband’s work here, and therefore she considers it necessary to organize meetings.

“I will arrive in Moscow, in Peredelkino, in October. And then I’ll be there again in the summer. Because, as I understand it, a new tradition has been born - on July 18, every year at the ZIL cultural center we will hold an evening dedicated to Evgeniy Alexandrovich,” Yevtushenko’s widow said in a conversation with reporters "Komsomolskaya Pravda".

“I still can’t believe that he’s gone. All the time it seems that he just went somewhere for a long time, and is about to return,” the widow of Evgenia Yevtushenko admitted to AiF in an exclusive interview Maria Vladimirovna.

Fell in love... with a hand

They lived together for 31 years. Despite the thirty-year age difference, we were always on the same page. Kindred souls.

And back in 1986, when Petrozavodsk State University student Masha Novikova came to a meeting with the poet Yevtushenko, famous throughout the Soviet Union, to get his autograph for her mother, she could not even imagine that he would become her destiny.

As Evgeniy Alexandrovich later said, it was love at first sight. Moreover, he saw Maria herself a little later.

“I sat and signed books in a television studio, didn’t even look at people’s faces,” he recalled. “Then I saw... a hand that I immediately fell in love with.”

The July acquaintance quickly ended with a wedding. Evgeny Alexandrovich and Maria Vladimirovna got married on the last day of 1986. When asked how she felt connecting her life with the idol of millions, the poet’s widow shrugs: “I didn’t marry for fame, but for a beloved man, a close person.” And then, smiling, he adds: “Although, I must admit, it was a little scary.”

Yevtushenko was known far beyond the borders of the USSR. With the 37th US President R. Nixon, 1972. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org

“He was never a star, he was not proud of his popularity,” says Maria Yevtushenko. “He simply didn’t have time for this.” Evgeniy Aleksandrovich worked very hard, was always passionate and busy with something. In addition, he treated himself and his work with a degree of irony and self-criticism. Although he was known and loved even outside the country. I remember in 1987 we went to Paris. One day, at an early hour, we were walking along the still empty streets of the French capital... And suddenly the figure of a tall, broad-shouldered dark-skinned man in a black coat with a scarlet scarf appears out of the morning fog. He walks towards us with a determined gait and smiles widely. I froze in anticipation - what will happen next? And he came up, took Zhenya by the hand and joyfully exclaimed: “Yevtushenko?” It turned out that he, a native of Senegal who works as an architect in Paris, knows his husband’s work very well and always carries a sheet of paper with one of his poems in his wallet.”

"My Humanity"

The poet Yevtushenko called his fourth wife Maria his guardian angel. Although he admitted that quarrels do happen.

“By nature, she is as stubborn as I am,” he said in an interview with AiF three years ago. - We often argue and sometimes quarrel, but how good it is to make peace later... Masha is amazing. For me, she is a wife, a daughter, a sister, and even a strict grandmother. I got married to her. She is my guardian angel in the literal sense of the word.”

Maria Vladimirovna explains that she and her husband never quarreled or sorted things out, but they could argue. Both have a strong-willed character and their own point of view.

“We could talk about literature for hours, and our opinions did not always coincide. For example, I really love the early Mayakovsky, and Evgeniy Aleksandrovich, on the contrary, the late one. When he was selecting Vladimir Vladimirovich’s poems for the anthology, I tried to intervene, but he clearly said: “Don’t touch.”

At the same time, it was his wife who became his first literary critic - Yevtushenko read the newly born lines to her, asking her opinions first of all.

“From the very beginning, I half-jokingly warned him: “Either I always tell you that everything is brilliant, or I honestly explain why I didn’t like this and that.” And this is exactly what he always expected from me - an honest look and answer. Sometimes he agreed and changed something. Sometimes he said: “I know better.”

“We did not always agree with regard to raising children (the Yevtushenko couple have two sons - editor’s note),” continues Maria Alexandrovna. - My husband thought that I gave them too much freedom, and did not approve of the fact that they spent a lot of time on the computer. True, when they began to skillfully repair broken equipment, I admitted that there were advantages. But because of the age difference, we never had any misunderstandings. You see, Zhenya, in human terms, in soul, was younger than many of my peers. He was interested in everything, he was interested in literature, painting, modern art, photography... And he was always interested in people. Simple ordinary people. He interacted with readers with interest and listened to their stories. In the museum-gallery he created in Peredelkino near Moscow, in the first hall there is a photo exhibition “My Humanity”, consisting of photographs taken by Yevtushenko during numerous trips around the world and the country. And in 2015, Evgeniy Aleksandrovich crossed the entire country from West to East - from St. Petersburg to Nakhodka Bay in the Sea of ​​Japan: 40 days by train, with stops in 26 cities, the same number of creative evenings. And everywhere the halls were full.”

Inability to betray

In 1991, the Yevtushenko family left for the USA - Yevgeny Alexandrovich began teaching Russian literature and poetry at the University of Tulsa, Oklahoma. For this decision, he was often criticized and attacked by our compatriots.

“At any press conference, at every meeting with readers, he was sure to be asked a question about America. And this is precisely the topic that infuriated Zhenya. He emphasized many times that he does not live in America, he works there. He loved his work and his students very much. I once read a very good phrase - “Every wall is a door”, and I always tried to follow it. Find, feel for something good in each of your students, and teach the children that there is a way out in any situation, and they should never lose hope.

In general, Evgeniy Alexandrovich was a very unusual teacher. For example, he immediately introduced a rule in his classes: when writing a review of a book you’ve read or a movie you’ve watched, you don’t need to retell their plot. “I know perfectly well what they are talking about,” he told the students. “It’s important for me to know what strings of YOUR soul this work touches.” At first, the guys did not understand what they wanted from them, but later they wrote deep and heartfelt confessional essays.

There was an incident that perfectly characterizes the essence of Yevgeny Yevtushenko as a person. A correspondent from the New York Times came to the university. I listened to Zhenya's lecture. And after that I decided to interview students. And one of them said a wonderful thing: “You know, Professor Yevtushenko does not teach us Russian or European literature. He teaches us decency and conscience.”

This really was all Yevtushenko, who, according to Maria Vladimirovna, never forgave people for only one thing - dishonesty and meanness. It was the inability to betray that he considered the main human quality.

“I have an open soul,” he said. - I love good people, I go to meet them and also try to bring something good. And I advise young people, first of all, to stand for the truth. There is not a single bad people on earth. People should feel responsible for humanity, but the understanding of the common must begin with themselves, their own family. If you are unhappy with something, look at yourself. And first achieve peace in your family. And then around. Love those around you. And don’t forget: there are still many people like them on earth, although you don’t know about them.”