Meet Valya Filippenko: Children’s Author and Our Upcoming YouTube Guest

How does a childhood love of making up stories become a career in children’s literature? For Valya Filippenko, the journey has included journalism, media production and a writing residency - alongside the fairy tales, poems and stories she began creating when she was young.

At London Arts & Talents, we are pleased to introduce Valya and announce that she will soon join us for an interview on our YouTube channel. It will be an opportunity to get to know the author behind her books and hear about her creative journey in her own words.

Valya graduated from the Faculty of Journalism at Moscow State University in 2010. Her professional background includes public relations and production work, with early experience working with Yeralash and Children’s Radio. Writing, however, was part of her life long before her professional career began.

Her debut book, Папа ищет работу (Dad Is Looking for a Job), was published by Samokat. According to the publisher, the story was conceived in a home opposite Moscow Zoo and completed during a writing residency in Peredelkino. These details offer a glimpse into the practical beginnings of a published book: an idea taking shape in an everyday setting, then developing through dedicated time for writing.

The debut went on to appear in the Gaidar Children’s Library’s 2023 catalogue of 100 new books for children and teenagers. Its inclusion placed Valya’s work within a selection intended to help readers, parents and librarians discover contemporary children’s literature.

Her subsequent titles include Папа едет на море (Dad Goes to the Sea), Пафка и Шкаф (Pafka and the Wardrobe), Коля ничего не боится (Kolya Isn’t Afraid of Anything) and Квадратный тигр (The Square Tiger). Together, these books give readers several ways into her storytelling, from family adventures to imaginative encounters and the challenges of growing up.

In Коля ничего не боится, for example, the young protagonist encounters situations that many children will recognise: performing in front of others, telling parents about mischief and entering a dark room. Such moments give a children’s story an immediate connection to its readers. An experience that seems small to an adult can be a considerable challenge for a child - and a compelling starting point for an adventure.

Valya’s work has appeared with publishers including Samokat, Stroki, Alpina.Children, Belaya Vorona and Badaboom. A November 2024 profile reported that she had published 13 works with a combined print run exceeding 60,000 copies. The same profile noted that her debut had been translated into Chinese, bringing the story to readers in another language. These figures describe a particular stage in her career and show how far her writing had already travelled by that time.

For our community, Valya’s journey raises interesting questions about creative development. How does an author move from an early idea to a finished manuscript? What changes when the intended reader is a child? How do professional experience, imagination and collaboration with publishers contribute to a writing career?

We look forward to exploring her experience in our forthcoming conversation. Our interview will give viewers a chance to meet Valya beyond the book covers and learn more about the person behind the stories.

The interview is coming soon to the London Arts & Talents YouTube channel. Follow our channel and website for the release announcement.