Al Altaev

Margarita Vladimirovna Rokotova writing as Al Altaev (22 November 1872 – 13 February 1959) was a Soviet children's book author.

Life Margarita Vladimirovna Rokotova was born in Kyiv in 1872. In 1889 she began a writing career after initially training as an artist.

Her writing career started well but she married a forestry worker named Iamshchikov, who burnt her stories intended for magazines. Rokotova left her husband with her passport but she took their daughter. She supported herself for six years by copying documents whilst she attended police stations to explain her lack of documentation. In 1899 she published a biography she had written of the poet Semyon Nadson, She had written about 200 books but many were forgotten. Many of her books were biographies of famous people of history or historical novels for children. She had also written a good number of stories that she was able to compile into books.