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The writer Vitalii Tovstonis (1883-1936), who was born in the town of Znam'yanka in the Kirovohrad region, hid under the pseudonym V. Tal. He was a locksmith by profession, but he quickly completed his education on his own and in 1908 began publishing stories in the then-current magazines Rada, Ridnii Krai, and others. When in 1911 he became the editor of the Village, he had to serve all the monetary fines imposed by the censors in the police station for half of the sentence, because the newspaper did not have the money to pay the fines. Between 1917 and 1927, he published 13 plays. He also wrote three novels for young people: "Dear Vagabonds" (1927), "Unusual Adventures of Bursaks" (1929), and "Into the World" (1930). In the first and the last, the events take place in the 1920s among the homeless and workers, among whom there are descendants of the bursaks described in The Extraordinary Adventures of the Bursaks.

This fascinating adventure story, last published in 1929, goes back to Cossack times, namely to the year of the destruction of the Zaporozhian Sich - 1775. Two bursaks escape from the bursa to the Sich and have many adventures on the way. In particular, they help peasants to rise up against landlord oppression, proving themselves to be true Cossacks. The writer belonged to the literary group "Plough". Unfortunately, after 1930, he was unable to publish a single work. The writer died on 11 February 1936 in the city of Hadiach in Poltava region.