The Stories of Modern Kazakh Prose

Mukhtar Magauin is a Kazakh writer, publicist, translator, and researcher of Kazakh folklore. In 1997, he received an international award from the Foundation of Artists and Writers of Turkey “for services to the Turkic world.” The award was presented to him by the then-President of the Republic of Turkey, Suleyman Demirel. Magauin translated into Kazakh […]

Anuar Alimzhanov was born on May 2, 1930, in the village of Karlygash in Taldykorgan region. From 1963 to 1967, he worked as editor-in-chief of the Kazakhfilm film studio. He is considered one of the most prominent Kazakh writers of the late Soviet period. He wrote not only stories about the contemporary period, among them […]

Rollan Seisenbayev, born October 11, 1946, in Semipalatinsk, is a prominent contemporary Kazakh writer, playwright, and translator. His novels and short stories have been published by some of the largest publishing houses and magazines worldwide. In addition to his literary activities, Seisenbayev is the founder of the Abai House in London, the Abai International Club, […]

Satimzhan Sanbayev is a Kazakh writer, film actor, and screenwriter. He won the Prize of the Union of Writers of the USSR in 1981 for the best novel about a working man. Born into the family of the prominent Kazakh teacher-educator Khamza Sanbayev, in 1967 he was invited to star in the film “The Road […]

Myrzhakyp Dulatov was born on November 25, 1885. He lost his parents early. Dulatov’s political creed was clearly articulated when, in 1909, he published his first collection of poetry, Oyan, Kazak! (Wake Up, Kazakh!). The copies in circulation were immediately confiscated—and in 1911 he was arrested. Dulatov became one of the leaders of Kazakh reformism […]

Oralkhan Bokeev (September 28, 1943 – May 17, 1993) was a Kazakh writer, playwright, and journalist. A bright and sensitive writer, a master wordsmith, Bokeev told his stories vividly and with deep knowledge of human nature. The plots of his stories are based on memories of his homeland and the events of his youth. He […]

Mukhtar Auezov (September 28, 1897–June 27, 1961) was a prominent Kazakh writer and an honored academic of the Soviet Union. Auezov’s works had a major influence on the development of Kazakh literature. He wrote numerous essays, short stories, and plays (many of which have been translated into other languages) in different genres, but his greatest […]

Zhusipbek Aimautov, a teacher by training, served as the editor-in-chief of Abai magazine and the newspaper Kazak tili. He also left a significant literary legacy as the author of the novels Kartkozha (1926) and Akbilek, as well as a number of other works. Akbilek is a psychological novel that was first published in 1927 in […]

Magzhan Zhumabaev is one of the fathers of modern Kazakh literature. Born in 1893 to a wealthy family in North Kazakhstan, he became one of the co-founders of the reformist political movement Alash Orda. Zhumabaev was a highly educated intellectual with wide-ranging interests who believed in the power of education: he spoke Arabic, Farsi, and […]