Ulmas Umarbekov

Ulmas Umarbekov was born in Tashkent on 25 January 1934. After school he entered the philology faculty of the university in Tashkent (today the National University of Uzbekistan), studied in its journalism department and graduated in 1956.

For many years he worked at the republic’s State Committee for Television and Radio, first as an editor and then as chief editor. In 1971–1974 he headed a sector of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Uzbekistan, and from 1974 he directed the Uzbekfilm studio, which he led until 1981.

He came into literature in the late 1950s: his first book, the collection “Stories”, appeared in 1958. It was followed by the story collection “Life Is Eternal” (1964), the novellas “My Beloved” (1963) and “Summer Rain” (1973), and “The Two Springs of Damir Usmonov” (1978). The novel “It Is Hard to Be a Human”, written in 1969 and first printed in 1970, made his name; it came out in Russian in 1972 as “The Green Star” and has been reissued many times.

Umarbekov also worked as a playwright and screenwriter. His plays “Flowing Waters” (1971) and “The Commission” (1974), and in the 1980s “Qiyomat qarz”, were staged at the Hamza Theatre; later he wrote the dramas “Slander” (1987) and “The Elder” (1991). Films made from his scripts include “Tale of Two Soldiers” and “For the Sake of Others”; his novella “The Meeting” became the film “Meeting at High Snows” (1981), and he was one of the screenwriters of the Soviet–Indian pictures “Legend of Love” (1984) and “Shikari” (1991).

Alongside writing he held state and public posts: from 1982 deputy minister of culture of Uzbekistan, minister in 1987–1989, chairman of the Writers’ Union of Uzbekistan in 1985–1989, and deputy chairman of the republic’s Council of Ministers in 1989–1991.

He received the Hamza State Prize of the Uzbek SSR in 1980 and the Order of the Badge of Honour in 1981, was named Honoured Art Worker of the Uzbek SSR in 1984 and People’s Writer of Uzbekistan in 1991. Ulmas Umarbekov died in Tashkent on 10 November 1994 after a serious illness. His novel “Fotima and Zuhra” was published after his death and staged at the Muqimi Theatre. In 2021 he was posthumously awarded the Order “For Selfless Service”; a street and a school in Tashkent bear his name.