“My River”s Bank” was prepared for publication by Mark Mudrik — a journalist and writer whose life was closely tied with Omsk, the city in which Robert Rozhdestvensky spent his early years. Mark Mudrik was a childhood friend of the poet and wanted to honor his memory in this way. As to the genre, the book could be characterized as a documentary novella, which was supplemented by Rozhdestvensky’s own poems. Mudrik included these poems, which were composed during the poet’s “Omsk period” in this book; they are published in the part of the book called “The Omsk Book”. Mudrik titled this tribute to Rozhdestvensky “My River”s Bank”.

Robert Rozhdestvensky’s earliest poems were first published in Omsk. His poem “With a rifle, my dad goes camping…” appeared on the pages of the “Omskaya Pravda” newspaper (“Omsk Truth”) on July 8, 1941, when the poet was only nine years old. Mark Mudrik was born in Odessa, but spent most of his life in Omsk.

Mudrik’s writings were published in the newspapers “Molodoy Sibiryak” (“Young Siberian”), “Vecherny Omsk” (“Evening Omsk”). Furthermore, he worked as an editor of theatrical, literary and arts publications, and founded a club in Omsk dedicated to theater criticism. Mudrik was also a keen chess player and wrote a lot about this sport, as he was very well versed in it. He even held the Candidate Chess Master title. As a writer, Mudrik is known for his books “Theatrical stories”, “Synopsis of the season”, “20th century. Poets. Omsk” and “The Legend of the Chess City”.

The war tied Rozhdestvensky to Omsk. His mother, as a field surgeon, was called to the front and had to send her son to her mother. Rozhdestvensky often reflected on his childhood memories of this period in his poems. Among the poems dedicated to the city, the most famous were these lines:

Mark Mudrik recalled how he met Rozhdestvensky:

As a publisher, Mudrik wanted to focus the attention of potential readers on the Omsk period in the poet’s life and work. In the book, he described his encounters with Rozhdestvensky during their shared childhood and in the subsequent years. At the same time, this publication includes Rozhdestvensky’s poems about Omsk written throughout the years. This is exactly the type of publication that Mudrik had been discussing and planning with Robert Rozhdestvensky. However, it became possible to implement the idea only after the poet’s death.