Anatoly Vasilyevich Efros (1925–1987) became a legend of the Russian theater during his lifetime. His performances on the stages of the Central Children's Theater, Lenkom, Moscow Art Theater, Drama Theater on Malaya Bronnaya, and the Taganka Theater amazed his contemporaries with their originality and originality. Efros was simply “unable” to stage this or that performance the way it was staged before: “I can only stage it the way I feel today.” And therefore, his performances always reflected the state of modern society, even if Efros took on the production of Shakespeare or Moliere, Gogol or Turgenev, Tolstoy or Chekhov... He was a true Master, he always strived for harmony, and this, according to his definition, is “the greatest concern , expressed perfectly.” A director is a poet, only he does not deal with pen and paper, but composes poems on the stage, while managing a large group of people,” this is how Anatoly Efros defined the main feature of his profession. But he was not only a poet on stage. His books are essentially a monologue of a poet, “a man who is not afraid of loneliness,” a man in love with his work, with his actors, with his students and teachers. Our publication includes Efros’s book “Profession: Director” and selected chapters from “Continuation of the Theatrical Novel” and “Book Four”. All together - this is a truly exciting “theatrical novel”, full of deep and succinct reflections on life, on the profession, on the people around us - and among them are famous playwrights, leading artists of Russian and foreign theaters.