Danya Kononov
I am 12. I write books and short stories, explore the world of sharks and the ocean, study dinosaurs and palaeontology, and explain science in plain words.
About me
My name is Danya Kononov and I am 12 years old. I write books and short stories. Five books have already been published, and I am working on new ones. What interests me most is joining a real story with the subjects I am passionate about in life.
One of them is sharks. I read a lot about them, follow scientific research and new discoveries. I am a certified diver and have dived in the sea and in a shark tank. In the future I want to become a bioengineer and work on restoring the white shark population.
I have loved dinosaurs since I was small. I read books and papers on palaeontology, collect dinosaur figures, and try to learn not just isolated facts but how they lived, changed and why they disappeared.
In general I like figuring out how life is put together: why some species vanish while others survive, how animals adapt to change, and how everything in nature is connected.
That is what I write books about and what I talk about in my blog “Trajectory of Life”.
I write books and stories
I invented my first story at the age of five; today I have five published books and more than ten short stories. I write science fiction, adventure and animal stories — and in some of them I weave real scientific facts into the plot.
The Secret of Manuflick Island
Thirteen-year-old Naya and her father Yuka land on an island that is on no map: giant weasels, mysterious mekhans and winged rat-angels live there. Together with the boy Alex and his biologist mother they have to save the magic tree to win their freedom.
Read more
Zlata Starts First Grade
Zlata is afraid of starting school and cannot sleep. A wise fairy helps her overcome the fear — and gives exercises to future first-graders.
Read more →
The Last Cretaceous
Three stories: the last days of the dinosaurs, a mother allosaur and her cub, and a meeting with a shark that breaks the myths.
Buy →
A Letter Through the Clouds
Two boys, one in Russia and one in China, write letters to each other though they have never met and speak different languages.
Buy →
The Childhood of Frost
How Father Frost came to be: little Frost makes toys instead of snowdrifts — and one day one of them reaches our world.
Buy →I explore sharks and the ocean
Sharks are among the most astonishing animals to me. I am interested not only in watching them but in understanding their behaviour, evolution and role in the ocean. I read shark research, follow their migrations and write about new discoveries in my blog.
I am a certified diver and have already dived with sharks. Underwater they are nothing like the movies: calm, precise, extremely attentive.
My big dream is to become a bioengineer and work on restoring the white shark population.
I study dinosaurs and palaeontology
Dinosaurs have fascinated me since childhood. I do not just memorise species names — I want to know how they looked, hunted, raised their young and why they died out. I read palaeontologists’ books and scientific papers, compare hypotheses, and use what I find in my own stories.
I also collect Jurassic World dinosaur figures — about a hundred of them by now.
My achievements
“Trajectory of Life”
My blog about how life works: from sharks and dinosaurs to new research and my own observations. I am interested not only in facts, but in why things happen the way they do.
Telegram @trajlife New observations, science news and short posts. Subscribe → VK Траектория жизни Notes on science, books and the ocean for those who prefer VK. Open → Дзен Большие статьи Popular-science pieces: sharks, the ocean, dinosaurs and palaeontology. Read →Who I want to become
In the future I want to become a bioengineer and work on restoring the white shark population.
I do not just want to watch sharks and study them — I want to help protect them. That takes an understanding of biology, genetics, how marine ecosystems are built and how human activity affects life in the ocean.
Right now I am only at the start of that road: I dive, I read books and scientific papers, I follow shark research and try to learn more about the living world.
I am interested not only in learning facts, but in understanding how everything works — and one day in using that knowledge to help nature.
Get in touch
Books, stories, papers, sharks and dinosaurs.
Contact — Ekaterina Kononova