Virta (Karelsky) Nikolai Evgenievich - was a Soviet writer who developed the theory of "conflictless" drama. He had four times awarded the Stalin Prize - in 1941, 1948, 1949, 1950. Nikolai Evgenievich Virta was born in 1906 in the Tambov region in the village of Bolshaya Lazovka, Tokarevsky district. Virta's father was a local priest. In 1921, the father and mother of Nikolai Evgenievich were shot by government orders. From childhood, Nikolai Evgenievich learned the hard work of peasant life. He was a shepherd, then became a clerk of the village council and at the same time studied in Tambov. In 1923, his first story about village life was published in the literary supplement of the Tambovskaya Pravda newspaper. From 1923 to 1925 Nikolai Virta, simultaneously with his writing activities, is engaged in journalism, works as an actor, director, chief secretary in the editorial offices of the Kostroma and Makhachkala newspapers and director at the Theaters of Working Youth. At the same time, Wirth's first plays were written. In 1930, Nikolai Virta moved to live in Moscow, where he worked in the newspapers Trud, Vechernyaya Moskva, Electrozavod. He became a famous writer thanks to the novel "Loneliness", dedicated to the Antonov uprising in the Tambov region. In 1937, on the basis of this novel, Virta wrote the play "Earth".