Prose writer M. Menshikov was born in the village of Kuzino in the Makhnevsky district of the Sverdlovsk region of the RSFSR in a family of poor peasants.
From 1919 to 1927, he was raised in orphanages in Sverdlovsk, Kazan, and Leningrad. At 14, he worked as an apprentice accountant, miner, and bookkeeper. From 1930 to 1938, he was a correspondent for various publications in the Urals, writing extensively about the construction projects of the first five-year plans — Uralmash, ChTZ, Magnitogorsk, as well as the history and nature of the Urals. From 1939 to 1944, he was a correspondent for military publications (the newspaper "Krasny Boyets" of the Ural Military District), and from 1944 to 1955, he served as a special correspondent for the central newspapers "Trud," "Sovetskaya Kultura," and "Komsomolskaya Pravda" in Kyrgyzstan. Since 1955, he lived in Frunze, worked for the newspaper "Komsomolets Kyrgyzstana," and from 1963 until the end of his life, he was a literary consultant for the Russian section of the Union of Writers of Kyrgyzstan.
He began publishing in 1930. His first book, published in Kyrgyzstan, consisted of more than two hundred stories about collective farmers and chronicled the history of the oldest collective farm in the republic named after K. Marx in the Moscow district near the village of "Temen-Suu."
He is the author of many children's books, collections of essays, stories, and literary portraits of Kyrgyz writers.
A member of the CPSU since 1949 and a member of the USSR Writers' Union since 1963.
He was awarded medals for "Labor Valor," "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 Standard Bearers of the New: Essay. —M.: Molodaya Gvardiya, 1950. — 80 pages.
There Were Villages of Temen-Suu. —F.: Kyrgyzgoeizdat, 1959.—250 pages.
Masters: Essays about the People of Soviet Kyrgyzstan. —F.: Kyrgyzgosizdat, 1959.— 159 pages.
Are You on the Way, Asek?: A Collection of Stories for Children. —M.: Detgiz, 1961, — 121 pages.
There Is Such a Girl. —F.: Kyrgyzuchpedgiz, 1963.— 15 pages.
Knyzhkin's Jubilee. —F.: Mektep, 1964. — 64 pages.
Among People: Essays and Stories. —F.: Kyrgyzgosizdat, 1964. — 151 pages.
In the Midst of Things: Amusing Stories. —F.: Kyrgyzstan, 1967. —84 pages.
Hurry Up, Sydyk!: Stories. — F.: Mektep, 1967. — 92 pages.
Stories about Kyrgyzstan. —M.: Det. Lit., 1968. — 175 pages.
Sanykin's Concerns: Stories for Preschool and Early School Age Children. — F.: Mektep, 1970. — 24 pages.
In the Father's Lands: Stories. —F.: Kyrgyzstan, 1971. —144 pages.
School Days Are Short: Stories Told by Pavlik Arsenyev. — F.: Mektep, 1972. — 84 pages.
To the Last Line: Essays about Communists, about Comrades in Pen. — F.: Kyrgyzstan, 1973. — 120 pages.
I Am with You, Guys...; Two Days in the Life of Bakas and Kostya: A Tale for Younger and Middle School Age Children. — F.: Mektep, 1977. —116 pages.
In the Father's Lands: Stories, Literary Portraits. — F.: Kyrgyzstan, 1983. — 172 pages.
I Am with You, Guys...: Two Days in the Life of Bakas and Kostya: A Tale for Younger and Middle School Age Children. — F.: Mektep, 1985, — 127 pages.
