Odil Yoqubov

Odil Yoqubov (Odil Yakubov) was born on 20 October 1926 in the village of Qarnoq, in what is now southern Kazakhstan (Turkistan district). He finished secondary school in 1944, served in the Red Army in 1945–1950 and took part in the Soviet–Japanese war (awarded the medal “For the Victory over Japan” in 1946). In 1951–1956 he studied philology at the Central Asian State University (now the National University of Uzbekistan).

His first work, the novella “Tengdoshlar” (“Peers”), was published in 1951. It was followed by the story collections “Dastlabki qadam” (1953) and “Ikki muhabbat”, the collection of novellas and stories “Tilla uzuk” (1961), and the novellas “Muqaddas”, “Bir feleton qissasi” (1961), “Qanot juft bo‘ladi” and “Matluba” (1970). His novel “Er boshiga ish tushsa…” (1966) is set on the home front during the Second World War.

The novel “Ulug‘bek xazinasi” (“The Treasure of Ulugbek”, 1973) portrays social relations in the age of Ulugbek and the struggle between light and darkness; “Ko‘hna dunyo” (“The Ancient World”, 1982) deals with the tragic fates of Ibn Sina and Biruni. The novels “Diyonat” (“Conscience”, 1977), “Oq qushlar, oppoq qushlar” (“White Birds, Pure White Birds”, 1988) and “Adolat manzili” (“The Abode of Justice”, 1998) depict the life of the Uzbek people in the 1960s and 1970s. These works contributed to the development of the psychological novel in Uzbek literature.

As a playwright he wrote “Chin muhabbat”, “Aytsam tilim kuyadi, aytmasam dilim”, “Yurak yonmog‘i kerak”, “Olma gullaganda”, “Muzaffar Temur” (1996) and “Bir koshona sirlari” (2000), and the screenplays “Dilbarim” and “Bahor yomg‘irlari” (1971). He was also a translator, critic and essayist, writing literary portraits and articles on Abdulla Qodiriy, G‘afur G‘ulom, Oybek, Abdulla Qahhor, Hamid Olimjon and Abdulla Oripov. His works have been translated into foreign languages and the languages of Turkic peoples.

He worked as literary adviser of the Writers’ Union of Uzbekistan (1955–1959), special correspondent of “Literaturnaya Gazeta” in Uzbekistan (1959–1963; 1967–1970), chief editor at the Uzbekfilm studio and the state cinematography committee (1963–1967), deputy chief editor of the Ghafur Ghulam publishing house (1970–1982), chief editor of the newspaper “O‘zbekiston adabiyoti va san’ati” (1982–1987) and first secretary of the board of the Writers’ Union (1987–1991); from 1991 he chaired the Terminology Committee under the Cabinet of Ministers and later was first vice-president of the Assembly of the Cultures of Central Asian Peoples.

In 1985 he received the title People’s Writer of the Uzbek SSR. He was a laureate of the Hamza State Prize (1977), and was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labour (1976, 1986), the orders “Do‘stlik” (1994) and “El-yurt hurmati” (1998), and the Order of the Patriotic War, 2nd class. He died in Tashkent on 21 December 2009 and was buried in the Chig‘atoy cemetery.