Olzhas Suleimenov

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Olzhas Suleimenov (Russian: Олжас Сулейменов) (1936-) is a Kazakh poet, politician, and anti-nuclear activist.

Contents

[edit] Life

Suleimanov was born on 18 May 1936 in Almaty. He graduated from Geological Sciences Department of Kazakh State University in 1959. Suleimenov also finished Gorkii Institute of Literature in 1961. Between 1962-1971, he worked at Kazakhskaya Pravda. Suleimenov was awarded Komsomol Prize for Kazakhstan in 1966. 1969-1989, He was a member of the Communist Party of Soviet Union. He became First Secretary of the Committee of the Kazakhstan's Writers Union in 1983. He is a Russophone writer.

[edit] Works

His most influential work AZ-i-IA was published in 1975. AZ-i-IA drew wide-scale criticism from literary elite in Russia. Suleimenov was charged with "“national chauvinism” and "glorifying feudal nomadic culture."[1] Kazakhstan Communist Party first secretary Dinmuhammad Konayev intervened on Suleimenov's behalf; discussing the content of the book with Brezhnev and saving Suleimenov's career.
His other works include;

  • Argamaki (1961)
  • Zemlia Poklonis' Cheloveku (1961)
  • Solnechnye Nochi (1962)
  • Dobroe Vremia Voskhoda (1964)
  • God Obez'iany (1967)
  • Glinianaia Kniga (1969)

[edit] Political activities

Suleimenov again became a world-wide name in 1989, when he led the establishment of international environmental movement Nevada-Semipalatinsk. Nevada Semipalatinsk campaigned to close nuclear sites in Nevada and Semipalatinsk city in Kazakhstan.
After independence, Suleimenov established Peoples' Congress party in 1991 and served as the speaker of Parliament until 1994. While at the Parliament, he rose to the position of opposition leader, engaging in several political struggles with President Nursultan Nazarbaev. Many opposition leaders urged him to run as a candidate in the next presidential elections.
In 1995, to preempt his potential candidacy, Nazarbayev broke a deal, and Suleimenov was appointed as Kazakhstan's ambassador to Rome. Currently, he serves as Kazakhstani ambassador at UN.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Harsha Ram, Imagining Eurasia: The Poetics and Ideology of Olzhas Suleimenov's AZ i IA, Slavic Review, Vol. 60, No. 2. (Summer, 2001), pp. 289-311.


 This Kazakhstani biographical article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
Languages