Olim Qo'chqorbekov

Olim Qo'chqorbekov was born on 12 August 1932 in the village of Qatortol in the Zangiota district of the Tashkent region, into a peasant family. His first poem was printed in 1948 in the children’s newspaper “Lenin uchquni”.

After school he entered the Central Asian State University (today the National University of Uzbekistan) in 1951 and graduated in 1957. His first collection, “She’r va masallar” (“Poems and Fables”), appeared that year.

After the university he worked for some forty years at the satirical magazine “Mushtum”, as a literary staff member, head of a department and then deputy editor-in-chief. He wrote both for children and for adults; some of his humorous books came out in the series “Mushtum kutubxonasi” (“Mushtum Library”).

For children he wrote “Chorichambar” (1963), “Sirli xum” (“The Mysterious Jar”, 1969) and “Qaysar buzoqcha” (“The Stubborn Calf”, 1974). His poetry collections include “Kuylarim va o'ylarim” (1960), “Umrim bog'ida” (1970), “Ko'ngil mezoni” (1972), “Va'zxon va Zag'izg'on” (1974) and “Nozik ko'ngil” (1983). In prose he published the humorous collections “Birinchi sort bo'ydoq” (1969) and “Salomiga yarasha” (1982), and in 1978 the novella “Lo'li bola” (“The Gypsy Boy”). Some of his satirical pieces were filmed for the satirical newsreel “Nashtar”, among them “Lenta taqqan qo'ylar”, “Suyunchi” and “Tumorli mashinalar”.

In 1980 the magazine “Sharq yulduzi” printed his novel about the last concubine of the Emir of Bukhara, Alim Khan, under the title “Inqiroz” (“Collapse”); it is later also cited as “So'nggi kaniz” (“The Last Concubine”). He took up the subject again in the novel “Amirlikdan mahbuslikka” (“From Emirate to Captivity”).

In 1973 he was given the title of Honoured Worker of Culture of the Uzbek SSR. Olim Qo'chqorbekov died in 2015.