Berdi Kerbabayev
Berdi Muradovich Kerbabayev (; ; 3 March 1894 – 3 March 1974) was a Soviet and Turkmen writer, the national writer of the Turkmen SSR, an academician of the Academy of Sciences of the Turkmen SSR and a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union since 1948 until his death. He is one of the most prominent representatives of the Turkmen literature. Biography. Kerbabayev was born on 3 March 1894, in the family of a farmer. He studied at the village school (mekdep) until 1917, then continued his studies at Bukhara Madrasa. He participated in the Basmachi Movement under  Eziz-khan Chapyk. In May of 1919, he left the Movement and joined the Bolsheviks instead. During the Civil War, he worked at the Political department of the Transcaspian Front. From 1919 to 1924, Kerbabayev had worked as the district instructor and served as the head of the Rural department of National education. He studied at the Leningrad Orientalism Institute from 1927 to 1928. From 1924 to 1934, Kerbabayev had worked as the editor of "Turkmenistan" newspaper and "Tokmak" magazine. He was the head of the Science administration of the Turkmen SSR from 1934 to 1936. He presided over the  Union of Writers of the Turkmen SSR. He was later elected a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the Turkmen SSR. He was also the member of the Committee on Stalin Prize. Personal life. He had two sons  – Bayram and Baky. Literary works. Berdi Kerbabayev started writing in 1923. Since that period, he had published more than 30 literary works of various genres: several plays, librettos, poems, literary scenarios and some prose works. At the same time, he translated the works of Alexander Pushkin, Mikhail Lermontov, Nikolai Gogol, Leo Tolstoy into the Turkmen language. In the poems "Girls’ World" (1927 ), "Enslaved" (1928), "To the New Life" (1930), the author described the difficult life of a Turkmen woman in the past. He also supported norms of the socialistic morals. The poem "Amu-Darya" (1930) is devoted to the socialistic construction. In the historical novel "The Decisive Step" (vol. 1–2, 1940 – 1947; vol. 3, 1955) the role of agriculture in the socialistic revolution and friendly relations of Turkmen farmers with Russians are vividly depicted. During World War II, the play "The Hero of the Soviet Union Kurban Durdy" (1942), the poem "Ailar" (1943), the tragedy about the great Turkmen poet and patriot  Magtymguly (1943), the play "Brothers" (1943), the libretto for the first modern Turkmen opera "Abadan", the short stories "Who won?", "Aspiration" and others were published. In post-war period, the theme of the socialistic labour prevails in the author's works. "Aysoltan from the land of white gold" (1949), which is about the daily life of collective farming village, and the novel "Nebit-Dag" (1957) about the oil industry workers were written during that period. The novel "Born by a Miracle" (1965) narrates about the Turkmen revolutionist Gaygysyz Atabayev.