Ilya Ilf

Ilya Arnoldovich Ilf (born Iehiel-Leyb Aryevich Faynzilberg, Russian: Иехи́ел-Лейб Арьевич Фа́йнзильберг) (15 October [O.S. 3 October] 1897 in Odesa – 13 April 1937, Moscow), was a popular Soviet journalist and writer of Jewish origin who usually worked in collaboration with Yevgeni Petrov during the 1920s and 1930s. Their duo was known simply as Ilf and Petrov. Together they published two popular comedy novels The Twelve Chairs (1928) and The Little Golden Calf (1931), as well as a satirical book Odnoetazhnaya Amerika (often translated as Little Golden America) that documented their journey through the United States between 1935 and 1936. His father was a Jewish bank clerk. He graduated from a technical school in 1913 and held various positions, including time at the telephone company and a military plant. After the Revolution, he began working as a journalist, editing several humor magazines, and joined the Odesa Union of Poets.

In 1923, he relocated to Moscow and took employment at the newspaper Gudok (roughly "Toot!", meaning the locomotive horn noise), a publication for railway workers. His contributions consisted mostly of satirical pieces. It was there that he met his writing partner, Petrov. In 1928, they were both let go, due to staff reductions, but they were able to find work at Chudak, a literary journal that provided a start for many Soviet writers and artists. From 1932 to 1937, they also wrote pieces for major publications such as Pravda, Literaturnaya Gazeta and Krokodil. Ilf also had a passion for photography, but this was not fully appreciated until years after his death, when his daughter discovered his photograph albums.