This year marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Kazakhstan’s People’s Writer and playwright Kuandyk Shangytbayev, reports Adyrna correspondent.
The prominent figure was born on March 21, 1925, in the Karabutaq district of the Aktobe region. He graduated from Kazakh State University (now KazNU).
Between 1944 and 1955, he worked as a department head at Aktobe Pedagogical Institute and the regional newspapers Socialist Path (Социалистік жол) and Aktubinskaya Pravda. From 1955 to 1973, he held editorial positions at the newspaper Kazakh Literature (Қазақ әдебиеті) and the magazine Zhuldyz, served as deputy editor-in-chief, and worked as editor-in-chief at Kazakhfilm Studio and Kazakh Radio.
His first book, “Ar” (Honor), was published in 1945. Later, he released numerous poetry collections, including “Ölender”, “Aqqu Äni”, “Stikhi”, “Arma, Respublikam”, “Lirika”, “Jyr Jahany”, “Gültolqyn”, “Sarshatamyz”, “Jyl Qusy”, and “Makhabbat pen Gadauat”.
Kuandyk Shangytbayev was also the author of many song lyrics. He translated Alexander Pushkin’s Eugene Onegin (1949, 1986), as well as lyrical works by Mikhail Lermontov, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Robert Burns, and Omar Khayyam’s rubaiyat. He also translated Maxim Gorky’s poem The Girl and Death (1941) into Kazakh.
For his contributions to translation, he was awarded the International Pushkin Prize.
