15 years have passed since the death of the world-famous Kyrgyz writer, statesman, diplomat, journalist, and thinker, Chingiz Aitmatov.
The works of the world-famous writer Chingiz Aitmatov are considered the common heritage of the entire Turkic world.
When speaking of Kyrgyz national literature, the first name that comes to mind after the Manas epic in Kyrgyzstan is Chingiz Aitmatov.
Chingiz Aitmatov was born on December 12, 1928, in the village of Sheker, Talas region of Kyrgyzstan, into the family of statesman Torekul Aitmatov and theater actress Nagima Aitmatova. In 1937, Aitmatov’s father was arrested, and on November 5, 1935, he was executed. Following these events, Aitmatov moved to the house of his grandfather, Khamza Abdulvaliev, in Karakol.
In 1948, Aitmatov graduated from the veterinary technical school. In the same year, he entered the Kyrgyz Agricultural Institute in Frunze, from which he graduated in 1953.
The writer’s creative career began on April 6, 1952, when the newspaper “Komsomolets Kirgizia” published his story in Russian titled “Newsman Juido”, in which he described the lives of Japanese children suffering from hunger and poverty after the war.
Aitmatov’s writing career started in Moscow. In 1956, he enrolled in the Higher Literary Courses at the Literary Institute named after A.M. Gorky and graduated in 1958.
Aitmatov gained worldwide fame when his work “Jamila”, written in 1958, was translated into French by the French poet Louis Aragon. Aitmatov worked as an editor for a literary magazine in Kyrgyzstan and as a correspondent for the Pravda newspaper in Kyrgyzstan.
For his literary and social activities in 1963, the writer was awarded the Lenin Prize.
He wrote his first novel, “And the Day Lasts Longer than a Century,” in 1980.
The writer was also involved in political life; he served two terms as a member of the Soviet Union’s parliament.
Aitmatov became one of the five advisers to Mikhail Gorbachev, the former president and last leader of the Soviet Union.
In 1996, Aitmatov was appointed by the founding president of Kyrgyzstan as his country’s representative to UNESCO, as an “ambassador of culture.”
Until March 2008, he served as the Ambassador of Kyrgyzstan to France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands.
Aitmatov had three sons and a daughter.
The books of the world-famous writer have been translated into 176 languages worldwide and have been published in 128 countries.
