Prose writer E. Kovsky was born in the city of Olgopol in the former Kamieniec-Podolski province in a family of a supervisor of a zemstvo hospital. After graduating from the Kamieniec-Podolski gymnasium, he continued his education in Odessa. After the establishment of Soviet power in Ukraine in 1920, he enrolled in the Odessa Polytechnic Institute but did not complete his studies.
Since 1918, he served in a student guard battalion. In 1919, he volunteered to join the ranks of the Red Army, received a serious wound in battles against the Makhnovists, and actively participated in grain requisitioning, working as the head of supply points.
Since 1925, he worked as a book distributor and insurance agent. During these years, he also tried his hand at literature. His first publications appeared in 1926-1927 in the pages of "Komsomolskaya Pravda" and Odessa literary almanacs.
Since 1929, he lived in Moscow, collaborating with the newspapers "Lesnaya Promyshlennost," "Izvestia," "Moskovskie Novosti," and in 1941, he was sent to Frunze as a correspondent for the newspaper "Meditsinskiy Rabotnik" (now "Meditsinskaya Gazeta"). His first collection of stories "The Garden of the World" was published in 1955. He is the author of several collections of stories, novellas, the novel "Brother Against Brother," essays, and memoirs. He translated K. Bayalinov's novel "Brotherhood," stories by K. Djantoshev, and others into Kyrgyz.
He has been a member of the Union of Soviet Writers since 1948.
He was awarded the medals "For Valorous Labor in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945," and "For Valorous Labor. In Commemoration of the 100th Anniversary of the Birth of V. I. Lenin."
SEPARATE PUBLICATIONS
in Russian
The Garden of the World: Novella. — Fr.: Kyrgyzuchpedgiz, 1955. — 167 p.
Bright Horizons: Stories. — Fr.: Kyrgyzgosizdat, 1961. — 183 p.
They Are Next to You: Essays. — Fr.: Kyrgyzgosizdat, 1962. — 154 p.
At the Source of Roads: Novella and Stories. — Fr.: Mektep, 1964. — 174 p.
Brother Against Brother: Novel. — Fr.: Kyrgyzstan, 1969. — 247 p.
Brother Against Brother: Novel. — Fr.: Kyrgyzstan, 1974. — 488 p.
Brother Against Brother: Novel. — Fr.: Kyrgyzstan, 1975. — 180 p.
Pages of Life: Memoirs, Stories, Essays, Drama. — Fr.: Kyrgyzstan, 1979. — 256 p.
TRANSLATIONS
Bayalinov K. Brotherhood: Trilogy. — Fr.: Kyrgyzstan, 1965. — 298 p.
