Tulan Nizom

Tulan Nizom (born Nizomiddinov Tulanboy) was born on 17 August 1939 in the village of Beshgul in the Boz district of the Andijan region. After secondary school he entered the Andijan Pedagogical Institute and graduated in 1965.

For many years he worked in education and in organizational posts: he led youth organizations (1965–1976), headed a district public-education department (1976–1983), served as executive secretary of the Andijan regional branch of the Writers' Union of Uzbekistan (1983–1985) and then as director of the Boz Pedagogical College (1985–2001).

His first poetry collection, «Your Fairy Tales», appeared in 1970. It was followed by «Pride» (1982), «Moon Maidens» (1988), «The Sacred Spirit» (1993), «A Feeling of the Homeland» (1993), «The Garden of Being» (1995), «Selected Poems» (1998) and other books. In 2007–2010 a three-volume edition of his works was printed under the titles «Spring Grass», «The Height of Summer» and «Golden Leaves». He also wrote poetry for children.

From the 1990s Tulan Nizom worked prolifically in the lyric-epic genre. His dastans and lyric tales include «Cholpon», «The Weeping of the Willow» (dedicated to Mirtemir), «Ruhi Ravonim» (about Mashrab), «The Moon That Never Set» (about Usmon Nosir), «Alisher», «The Smell of Bread» and «The Pass» (about the building of the Kamchik pass). Turning to figures such as Babur, Cholpon and Mirtemir became one of the main lines of his work.

In 1998 he was named People's Poet of Uzbekistan. He is also an Honoured Worker of Public Education of Uzbekistan, a laureate of the international Cholpon and Babur prizes, and holder of the orders «Mehnat shuhrati» (2003) and «El-yurt hurmati» (2008). Tulan Nizom died on 10 December 2020, aged 81.