A stylised portrait — few authentic photographs of the author survive
01A short life, one major text
Konstantin Ivanov was born on 15 May (27 May, New Style) 1890 in the village of Slakbash — today part of Bashkortostan.
He studied at the Simbirsk Chuvash Teachers' School. It was there, very young, that Ivanov began to write, and "Narspi" was composed when he was around seventeen.
02Legacy
Ivanov died in 1915, before turning twenty-five. "Narspi" became a founding point for later generations of Chuvash writers.
Today, a state prize for literature and art in the Chuvash Republic bears Ivanov's name.