Kazakhstan’s People’s Writer, historian, Doctor of Philology, publicist, and researcher of Kazakh oral literature, Mukhtar Magauin, has passed away. This was announced by the writer’s son, Edige Magauin, on his social media page, reports the national portal “Adyrna.”
“My lion-hearted father has departed from this world to the next, at his home in Maryland, USA, surrounded by his family, on January 9, 2025, at 7:55 PM local time (January 10, 5:55 AM Kazakhstan time),” the post reads.
We express our deepest condolences to the family and loved ones of Mukhtar Mukhanuly Magauin, a world-renowned classic writer, and to the entire Kazakh nation.
Mukhtar Mukhanuly Magauin was born in 1940 in the Shubartau district of Semey region into a family of teachers. He was a prominent and talented writer, a laureate of the Kazakh SSR State Prize, and a People’s Writer of Kazakhstan. He graduated from the Barshatas village Kazakh secondary school in 1957 and was admitted to the Kazakh State University named after S.M. Kirov. He completed his studies at the Faculty of Philology in 1962 and his postgraduate studies at the Department of Kazakh Literature in 1965. Magauin’s professional career began in 1965. Initially, he worked as a section head at the “Kazakh Literature” newspaper, and from 1967 to 1971, he served as the deputy editor-in-chief at the “Zhazushy” publishing house.
Magauin first appeared in the press in 1959. Throughout the 1960s, he became known primarily as a literary researcher (with his monograph “Kobyz Saryny”). Later, he focused more on fiction. His main works are in this genre, including numerous stories and novellas such as “Tazynyn Olumi” (1969), “Bir Atanyn Balalary” (1973), “Kokbalak” (1978), “Zhuiriktin Tagdyry” (1979), “Shakan-Sheri” (1984), as well as the novel “Kok Munar” (1971) and the historical novel dilogy “Alasapyran” (1980-1982).
Magauin’s key works have been translated into Russian and published in the languages of the USSR peoples and abroad. In 1984, he was awarded the Abai State Prize of the Kazakh SSR for his historical novel dilogy “Alasapyran.”
