Pulat Mumin

Pulat Mumin (born Pulat Muminov) was born in Tashkent on 24 December 1922. He finished a teacher-training college in 1939 and then studied at the Nizami Tashkent Pedagogical Institute, graduating in 1944. In 1944–1947 he worked as a teacher.

In 1948–1950 he was a literary staff member of the children’s newspaper “Lenin uchquni”, and in 1951–1952 head of the children’s literature department of the State Publishing House of Uzbekistan. In 1954–1960 he was a literary consultant at the Writers’ Union of Uzbekistan, and in 1962–1964 chief editor for drama at the Arts Administration of the Ministry of Culture.

His first book, the poetry collection “Sing, Birds”, came out in 1949, followed the same year by “Morning Songs”. Over the following decades he published books of verse and tales for children such as “Golden Ears of Wheat” (1951), “The Tale of the Toothbrush” (1955), “A Craft Will Feed You” (1958), “What Grows Straight Becomes a Flower” (1960), “Where Does the Mind Live?” (1962), “The Golden Flute” (1967), “Thanks for Thanks!” (1969), “Eson and Omon”, “Tales Lead to Kindness” (1984), “From Tale to Tale” and “Grandpa Wheat” (1995). The collection “My Little One, My Darling” appeared at the end of his life.

As a playwright he wrote plays from children’s lives — “Qovoqvoy and Chanoqvoy”, “Suqatoy and Konfetvoy” (1970), “Bahodir’s Bravery” (1972), “The Mother Says ‘My Child’, the Child Says ‘My Mother’” (1975), “The White Elephant Is Lost” (1983) and “The Poor Ostrich” (1987) — which were staged by theatres across the republic.

Following the classical tradition, he wrote much in the ghazal, tuyuq and fard forms: his song lyrics in ghazal form number more than five hundred. The books “She Smiled a Little” (1964), “The Flower and the Onion” (1971) and “Singing a Song” (1985) are made up of songs, and in 1993 he published a book of fards, “The Joys and Sorrows of My Heart, the Couplets and Fards I Tell”. His best-known songs include “Indamadi” (“She Said Nothing”), created with the composer Imomjon Ikromov, “Onadur ul, onadur” and “Senga bir gap aytaman”.

As a translator he rendered into Uzbek children’s works by A. S. Pushkin, V. V. Mayakovsky, S. Marshak, S. Mikhalkov, A. Barto, N. Nosov and other Russian writers.

In 1959 he was awarded the Medal “For Distinguished Labour”, and in 1983 he was named an Honoured Art Worker of the Uzbek SSR. On 19 March 1991 he received the title of People’s Writer of the Uzbek SSR, and in 1998 he was awarded the Order “El-yurt hurmati”. Pulat Mumin died in Tashkent on 2 March 2004.