Alexander Kerdan is a professional military officer from the city of Korkino in the Southern Urals. He published his first poems in the 80s in local periodicals. “Participation in All-Army and All-Union meetings of Young Writers became a true literary school for me. I met many famous poets and prose writers, was able to comprehend the laws of creative writing, in other words, improved my poetic skills”, the poet said in an interview about the beginning of his career path.

Kerdan was awarded the Governor’s Literary Prize named after Robert Rozhdestvensky for the collection of poems “Details of life” in 2016. It includes selected short and long poems and translations written in 1982-2015. The committee praised the book for the open-mindedness, rich and capacious poetic language and attention to the eternal values. In the latter aspect, according to experts, Kerdan’s poems are in the same vein as the works created by Robert Rozhdestvensky.

For the first time, the Rozhdestvensky Literary Prize was awarded in 2012 to Viktor Verstakov, a poet from Moscow. The second winner was an Altai native — Viktor Bryukhovetsky. The third winner is Alexander Kerdan.

For more than twenty years, Kerdan has been heading the Ural Association of Writers, working as editor-in-chief of the literary and artistic almanac “Chasha Krugovaya” (Loving cup), and organizing meetings of young writers in Kamensk-Uralsky, Nizhny Tagil, Ishim, and other cities. He wrote more than 50 books and won of many prestigious literary awards: the Great Literary Prize of Russia, the Valentin Pikul International Prize, and many others.

Alexander Kerdan’s poems and prose were translated into English, Italian, Georgian, Azerbaijani, Khanty, and Komi languages. Many of his works, as well as those of Robert Rozhdestvensky, became famous songs. They were included in the repertoires of the Ural Academic Choir, the Ensemble of the Central Military District, the Song and Dance Ensemble of the Railway Troops of Russia, and other artistic groups and performers.