This book is the first detailed biography of the writer, screenwriter, artist and poet Mikhail Leonidovich Ancharov (1923-1990). Ancharov is one of the founders of the genre of the author's song, which he began to engage in before others: the first songs were written in the late thirties of the last century. In the sixties, he published prose works that made M. L. Ancharov a recognized writer. In the seventies, he created the script for the first Soviet television series "Day by Day." Returning to prose in the second half of the seventies, Ancharov wrote several short stories and novels that are still well known to readers ("The Road Through Chaos," "Boxwood," "Notes of a Wandering Enthusiast").