Anatolij Naumovich Rybakov - russkij pisatel, avtor mnogikh knig, sredi kotorykh "Kortik", "Bronzovaja ptitsa" i legendarnaja trilogija "Deti Arbata"; ego proizvedenija perevedeny na desjatki jazykov i ne raz byli ekranizirovany. Roman "Tjazhelyj pesok", vkljuchennyj v nastojaschee izdanie, - eto pronzitelnaja istorija ljubvi, kotoraja okhvatyvaet bolee tridtsati let. Chitatel stanovitsja svidetelem pechalej i radostej dvukh vljublennykh, Rakhili i Jakova, sledit za peripetijami ikh zhizni v malenkom juzhnom gorodke. Nespeshnyj ritm prekrasnoj semejnoj sagi obryvaetsja, kogda na geroev romana obrushivaetsja Vtoraja mirovaja vojna... "Vse, chto proizoshlo s etimi ljudmi, proizoshlo so mnoj, - vspominal Rybakov. - Nad gorodom opustilas noch, ja brodil v etom mrake po tem zhe ulitsam. I teni zamuchennykh breli rjadom so mnoj ot doma k domu..." Avtobiograficheskaja kniga "Roman-vospominanie", takzhe predstavlennaja v etom sbornike, byla okonchena za god do smerti. V nej nashel otrazhenie pochti ves zhiznennyj put avtora, put, kotoryj tesno perepletaetsja s samymi dramaticheskimi sobytijami XX veka. Geroi knigi (mnogie iz kotorykh stali prototipami personazhej ego povestej i romanov) - sam avtor, ego semja i druzja, vse te, s kem stalkivala sudba, "pokolenie detej Revoljutsii, perezhivshikh krushenie ee idealov, prevraschennykh v lagernuju pyl v tridtsatykh, pogibshikh v sorokovykh na poljakh vojny".
Anatoly Naumovich Rybakov (Russian: Анатолий Наумович Рыбаков; January 14, 1911 – December 23, 1998) was a Soviet and Russian writer, the author of the anti-Stalinist Children of the Arbat tetralogy, novel Heavy Sand, and many popular children books including Adventures of Krosh, Dirk, Bronze Bird, etc. One of the last of his works was his memoir The Novel of Memoirs (Роман-Воспоминание) telling about all the different people (from Stalin and Yeltsin, to Okudzhava and Tendryakov) he met during his long life. Writer Maria Rybakova is his granddaughter.