Mukhtar Auezov

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mukhtar Auezov (28 September 1897 - 1961) was a Soviet Kazakh writer. He was born into a nomadic family the village of Chingistan in the Semipalatinsk region. Despite his nomadic roots, his grandfather taught him to read and write. Auezov was then educated at the Semiplatinsk Teacher's Seminary and Leningrad State University.

Auezov is best known for his plays. The first play he authored was Enlik-Kebek, a story of two young lovers which bears a great resemblance to Romeo and Juliet. He authored more than twenty plays which dealt with issues relevant to Socialism in Kazakhstan.

After writing plays, Auezov changed his focus to writing novels. Two novels - Abai and The Path of Abai - dealing with the life of Kazakh poet Abai Kunanbaiuli were the product of the last twenty years of his life.

Auezov's other projects included drawing and translating literature into the Kazakh language