Renowned classical poet, State Prize laureate, and public figure Temirkhan Medetbek turns 80 years old.
The “Adyrna” national portal sincerely congratulates the poet on his milestone anniversary. May your creative journey continue, and may your pen remain ever sharp!
Temirkhan Medetbek was born on March 6, 1945, in the village of Amangeldi, Turkistan district, South Kazakhstan region. After finishing secondary school in Turkistan, he worked as a collective farm worker in his native village and later as a proofreader at a district newspaper. In 1983, he received the Kazakhstan Writers’ Union Award for his poetry collection Kögershin Qauyrsyndary (“Pigeon Feathers”), and in 2000, he won the State Prize of the Republic of Kazakhstan for his book Tagdyrly Jildar Jyrlary (“Poems of Fateful Years”). He is also a laureate of the Beibarys Prize and has been awarded the Qurmet (“Honor”) Order and an Honorary Diploma.
Medetbek studied at the Faculty of Language and Literature at the Abai State Pedagogical Institute in Almaty. He worked as an editor at Kazakh television, a worker in geological exploration expeditions in Mangystau, a journalist and section head at a regional newspaper, and a literary consultant for the Writers’ Union in Mangystau. He also served as a correspondent for Egemen Kazakhstan, chairman of the Mangystau Regional Television and Radio Committee, second secretary of the Writers’ Union, and editor-in-chief of the magazines Aqiqat and Juldiz.
He is the author of over ten poetry collections, including Janymnyng Japyraktar (“Leaves of My Soul”), Sapar Aldynda (“Before the Journey”), Märtebe (“Honor”), Auedegi Tolqyndar (“Waves in the Air”), Dauys (“Voice”), Aŋqa Keptirgen Aŋzaq (“The Arid Wind That Dried My Soul”), Syrim Bar Sagan Aytatyn (“I Have Something to Tell You”), Kök Türikter Saryny (“Echo of the Blue Turks”), and a three-volume Selected Poems collection. He has also written literary criticism, essays, and reflections, including Menin Abayym (“My Abai”), Baba Dästürdin Müageri Kim? (“Who is the Heir to Our Ancestors’ Traditions?”), and Segiz Qyrly Seksensyrly Älem Bul (“This Multi-Faceted, Mysterious World”).
His poetry has been translated into Kyrgyz, Uzbek, Ukrainian, Russian, Chinese, and Tatar languages. He has also translated works by Alexander Pushkin, Mikhail Lermontov, Yakub Kolas, Yanka Kupala, Lesya Ukrainka, Radovan Zogovic, Charles Baudelaire, Emile Verhaeren, Pablo Neruda, Vítězslav Nezval, Erkin Vakhidov, and Nikolai Koulakovsky. Additionally, he translated Heinrich Böll’s novel House Without a Master and several works by Vladimir Nabokov.
