Okhunjon Khakimov

Okhunjon Khakimov was born on 20 February 1934 in the village of Logon in the Fergana Valley. He graduated from the Fergana State Pedagogical Institute.

He worked at the regional newspaper “Kommuna” (later “Farg‘ona haqiqati”), at the republican newspaper “Sovet O‘zbekistoni” (now “O‘zbekiston ovozi”) and at the magazine “Mehnat va turmush”. He published his first work in the late 1950s, and from then on his poems appeared regularly in republican and regional publications.

His legacy rests on lyric poetry: more than twenty collections, among them “Poems” (1970), “My Hands on My Chest” (1976), “Thought Is Eternal” (1982), “Ode to the Homeland” (1984), “That Day Will Come” (1990), “Your Eyes Are Black” (1992), “When Girls Dream” (1995), “Look for Love in the Eyes” (1996), “Image of Angels” (2004) and “World, O World…” (2005). His long poems “My Hands on My Chest”, “Thought Is Eternal” and “That Day Will Come” were warmly received by readers.

Besides verse Khakimov wrote prose — “The Scent of Spring” (1971) and “The Eagle’s Strike” (1972) — and humorous stories that carry on the Fergana Valley tradition of comic repartee (askiya): “Long Live the Dolts”, “The Yogurt Lover”, “My Wife’s Deputy” and others. His plays “A Pair of Doves” (2001), “Dreams of the Bellowing Camel” (2003) and “These Old Men Are Bad Old Men” (2004) were staged in the country’s theatres.

In 1998 Khakimov received the Order «El-yurt hurmati», and in 2006 he was given the title People’s Poet of Uzbekistan. He died on 26 March 2020 at the age of 86 after a long illness.