Katya Shabunina, a student from the village of Yarovoye in Altai Krai, once wrote to Robert Rozhdestvensky. The letter was preserved in the poet’s personal archive and was donated to the museum in 2012 by his family.

Upon finishing her tenth grade in 1973, Katya could not decide on her future profession. She wanted to be a teacher, but she also enjoyed writing poems. That is why she decided to write a letter to her favorite poet and fellow countryman, asking him to help with her career path.

The girl writes: “Hello, dear Robert Rozhdestvensky! Katya Shabunina, a 10th grade student, is writing to you. Actually, I am already finishing school and having my exams now. I do not know if it is a good idea to write to you, because thousands of people write to you again and again, the favorite poet of the youth. Nevertheless, I have a little hope that you will reply to me. Dear Robert Rozhdestvensky! I”m sending you some of my poems, but actually I don”t know if they can be called poems, and I really, really ask you — please, if you can, write down what you liked at least a little bit and is it even worth it to continue? I am asking for your advice. Also, I want to thank you very much for your wonderful poems, which you generously gift to people. Thus, I think, you encourage us to love kindness, truth, justice, and teach us to love our Motherland. Thank you very much! Respectfully, Katya Sh. June 6, 1973”.

She included some of her poems in the letter to the poet. Here is one of them:

Robert Rozhdestvensky replied to her, but, unfortunately, the letter has not been preserved. Later, Ekaterina Shabunina became a teacher. Now, she is an Honored Teacher of the Russian Federation, but she is still fond of poetry and tries to engage her students with poetry. She has carried her love for Robert Rozhdestvensky’s poems throughout her life and she is still promoting his artistic legacy.