Muhammad Yusuf

Muhammad Yusuf (born Muhammadjon Yusupov) was born on 26 April 1954 into a farming family in the village of Qovunchi in the Marhamat district of the Andijan region. After finishing school he went to Tashkent and studied at the Republican Institute of Russian Language and Literature, graduating in 1978.

His first poem appeared in 1976 in the weekly “Oʻzbekiston adabiyoti va sanʼati”. After graduating he worked as an editor at the republic’s Book Lovers’ Society and in 1980–1986 as a correspondent for the newspaper “Toshkent oqshomi”. He then worked as an editor at the Ghafur Ghulam Publishing House of Literature and Art, as a correspondent for the newspaper “Oʻzbekiston ovozi”, as deputy editor-in-chief of the National News Agency of Uzbekistan, and as a department head at the journal “Tafakkur”.

His first collection, “Familiar Poplars”, came out in 1985. Erkin Vohidov encouraged him at the start, and later he became close to Abdulla Oripov. A poem about the Uzbek skullcap, the doʻppi, did most to make his name with readers. It was followed by “I Have a Word for the Nightingale” (1987), “Plea” (1988), “The Sleeping Girl” and “Lullabies of Mother Halima” (1989), “The Ship of Love” (1990), “A Beloved in My Heart” (1991) and “The Tender Gazelle” (1992).

His poems about the homeland, such as “My Homeland” (“Vatanim”) and “We Will Give You to No One, Uzbekistan”, are widely known, and many of his poems became songs. In 1996 he became a literary consultant to the Union of Writers of Uzbekistan, and from 1997 until his death he was its deputy chairman. He was awarded the Order of Friendship (Doʻstlik), and in 1998 he received the title of People’s Poet of Uzbekistan; his collection “I Will Take You to My Sky” came out the same year. In 1999 he was elected to the second convocation of the Oliy Majlis.

Muhammad Yusuf died of a heart attack on 29 July 2001 in the Ellikqalʼa district of Karakalpakstan, while on a literary trip; he was 47. He was buried in his home village of Qovunchi, in the Gʻishtmozor cemetery. In 2025 he was posthumously awarded the Order “For Selfless Service” (Fidokorona xizmatlari uchun).

By a presidential decision his 60th anniversary was marked in 2014 with an edition of his selected poems, a documentary film and a memorial plaque on the house in Tashkent where he lived. In 2017 a creative school named after him opened in Andijan; streets bear his name, and there is a house museum in Qovunchi. In 2020 his statue was placed in the Alley of Writers in Tashkent.