About the book: 1982 / Valentin SIDOROVValentin Mitrofanovich Sidorov was born in 1932 in the city of Voronezh. In 1954 he graduated from the Faculty of Philosophy of Moscow University. He published seventeen poetry collections. Valentin Sidorov is a member of the USSR Writers' Union, a teacher at the A. M. Gorky Literary Institute, a candidate of philological sciences. For a number of years, Valentin Sidorov has been conducting research to study the creative heritage of the great Russian artist and thinker Nikolai Konstantinovich Roerich. He prepared for publication a book of Roerich’s poems “Letters” (1974) and a book of prose “Selections” (1979). He is the author of two books. dedicated to the creative biography of the artist - “On the Heights” (1977), “On the Route of Roerich” (1979). Valentin Sidorov is characterized by a deep interest in the centuries-old culture of India, in the problems of traditional communication between our peoples. In 1980, the poetic anthology “Thinking about India” compiled by Valentin Sidorov was published: it included the best poems of Russian and Soviet poets about India. The Indian theme also occupies a significant place in the poet’s own work (the collection “Himalayan Garden” and other publications). The book “The Key” includes cycles of poetic meditations, which are an attempt to combine Russian and Indian poetic traditions. The author uses a technique typical of Indian poetry: addressing oneself as if from the outside (the so-called internal conversations). Meditation poems, according to the laws of this genre, offer topics for reflection and for in-depth independent work. © Pravda Publishing House. Library • Ogonyok». 1982.