Olga Ivinskaya

Olga Vsevolodovna Ivinskaya (; June 16, 1912, in Tambov – September 8, 1995, in Moscow) was a Soviet poet and writer. She is best-known as friend and lover of Nobel Prize-winning writer Boris Pasternak during the last 13 years of his life and the inspiration for the character of Lara in his novel Doctor Zhivago.

Early life Ivinskaya, of German-Polish descent, was born in Tambov to a provincial high school teacher. In 1915, the family moved to Moscow. After graduating from the Editorial Workers Institute in Moscow in 1936, she worked as an editor at various literary magazines. She was an admirer of Pasternak since her adolescence, attending literary gatherings to listen to his poetry. She married twice: the first time to Ivan Emelianov in 1936, who hanged himself in 1939, having one daughter, Irina Emelianova; the second time in 1941 to Alexander Vinogradov (later killed in the war), producing one son, Dmitry Vinogradov. A publication of her alleged letters in "Moskovsky Komsomolets" in 1997 suggested that, like most torture victims, she had been induced to cooperate with the KGB.

Final years After Pasternak's death in 1960, Ivinskaya was arrested for the second time, with her daughter, Irina Emelianova. She was accused of being Pasternak's link with Western publishers in dealing in hard currency for Doctor Zhivago. The Soviet government quietly released them, Irina after one year, in 1962, and Ivinskaya in 1964.