Nikolay Vasilevich Korneychukov was born in St.Petersburg on March, 31st, 1882. The writer worked under the penname of Korney Chukovsky from the very beginning of his literary activity. Later he added the artificial patronymic of Ivanovich to his penname. In 1901 Chukovsky went into journalism and after two years became a correspondent in London. Chukovsky returned home in 1905. Impressed by revolutionary events he began to publish the satirical magazine "Signal". But only four editions were released – Chukovsky was arrested soon. Thanks to Lawyer Gruzenberg he was justified.

Starting from 1906 Chukovsky spent ten years in Kuokkala Settlement. This was were he became friends with artist Ilya Repin and poet Vladimir Mayakovsky. Korney Chukovsky gradually became more and more well-known and influential. He criticized articles and protected futurists.

In 1916 he went to England. After the revolution Chukovsky's talent of a critic was blossoming more and more. But gradually, if considering the short biography of Korney Chukovsky, he departed from this kind of activity. From 1917 to 1926 he worked on a book about poet Nekrasov and also wrote about other outstanding literary figures.

Korney Ivanovich Chukovsky paid much attention to children's books and he is mostly known as children's writer. His first fairy tale was released in 1916. It was followed by "Wash'em'clean", and "The Giant Roach". Chukovsky also worked as a translator of books and retold the Bible for children.

Chukovsky's poems for children underwent cruel persecution under the reign of Stalin, though it is known that Stalin himself repeatedly quoted his satirical "Tarakanishche". The initiator of this persecution was Nadezhda Krupskaya, and children's poetess Agnia Barto also contributed to that inadequate critic. Among the communist party critics and editors there even appeared a special term — "Chukovshina" . Chukovsky undertook an obligation to write an orthodox-Soviet work for children "Cheerful Kolkhozia", but failed to do it.

The 1930s were marked by Chukovsky's two personal tragedies: in 1931 his daughter Murochka died after a serious illness, and in 1938 his daughter Lydia's husband - physicist Matvei Petrovich Bronstein was shot down by as a public enemy (the writer learned about his son-in-law's death only after two years of efforts in instances).

Chukovsky was engaged a lot into the theory of literary translation and translations into Russian (Mark Twain, Oscar Wilde, Rudyard Kipling, etc., including translations in the form of "retellings" for children).

Korney Ivanovich died of virus hepatitis on October, 28th, 1969 . The writer was laid down to rest at a cemetery in Peredelkino. Now there is his museum working in the summer residence in Peredelkino, where the writer spent most of his life.