Shoyim Botayev

Shoyim Botayev was born on 20 June 1959 in the village of Maydoncha in the Uratepa district of Tajikistan. He finished secondary school in 1976 and in 1982 graduated from the history and philology faculty of the Leninabad (now Khujand) State Pedagogical Institute.

He began his working life at the magazine “Guliston”, then headed a department at the newspaper “Tong yulduzi” and worked as an editor at the Cho'lpon publishing house. He was editor-in-chief of the “Literature and Radio Theatre” main editorial office of Uzbek Radio and of the Uzbektelefilm studio, and for many years editor-in-chief of the Republic of Uzbekistan's studio of documentary and popular-science films. Later he worked as deputy editor-in-chief of the Cho'lpon creative publishing and printing house.

He entered literature in the mid-1980s. His first novella, “Sirli yulduzlar” (“Mysterious Stars”), was printed in 1984 in the magazine “Sharq yulduzi”, and the collection of novellas “Dunyoning sarhisobi bor” came out the same year. These were followed by the story collection “Endi bari boshqacha” (1988) and the volume of novellas and stories “Shamol o'yini” (1995).

The novel “Qo'rg'onlangan oy” appeared in 1996. Among his books are the collections “Kunbotardagi bog'”, “Hayot” and “Ko'chada qolgan ovoz”, and the novels “Shoh” and “Yettinchi tong”. He has also written essays, including “Shukur Burhon”, “Odil Yoqubov fenomeni” and “Shukur, ayt-chi bu hayot nima?” (about Shukur Kholmirzaev); his essay on I. V. Savitsky, “Orfey iltijosi xaloskori”, won the republican contest “Eng ulug', eng aziz”.

As a screenwriter he wrote the literary scripts of the television series “Bog'”, “Dil payvandi”, “Qaldirg'ochlar yana qaytadi” and “Beshovlon”, the feature films “Muzaffar” and “Sarvinoz”, and dozens of documentaries and radio plays. Some of his works have been translated into Russian, Turkish, Karakalpak, Tajik, German and English.

Shoyim Botayev is a member of the Writers' Union of Uzbekistan. He was awarded the Order of Friendship (Do'stlik) in 2002, and by a presidential decree of 27 June 2023, issued for the Day of Press and Mass Media Workers, the Order of Labour Glory (Mehnat shuhrati).