Tursunoy Sodiqova

Tursunoy Sodiqova was born on 24 March 1944 in Andijan into a white-collar family. When she was two the family moved to Tashkent, where she finished Secondary School No. 82 in what is now the Shaykhontohur district (1961). In 1966 she graduated with distinction from the Faculty of Philology of Tashkent State University, now the National University of Uzbekistan.

She began working as a schoolteacher, worked in youth organizations, and later at the Andijan State Institute of Foreign Languages, at the Republican “Spirituality and Enlightenment” Centre and at the non-governmental association “Enlightened Women” of Uzbekistan. She held the degree of Candidate of Philological Sciences.

She began to write in the 1960s. Her first book of poems, “Kuy” (“Melody”), appeared in 1976, followed by “Gul fasli” (“Season of Flowers”, 1981), “Iqbol” (“Prosperity”, 1984), “Dil gavhari” (“Pearl of the Soul”, 1985), “Izlay-izlay topganim” (“I Did Not Find What I Sought”, 1988) and “Girya” (1994). Many of her poems are addressed to her mother.

She also wrote journalism and books on morality and family relations: “Andisha” (1988), “Mehrigiyo” (1989), “Baxtli bo‘ling” (1989), “Baxt nima?” (1994), “Mehr qolur” (1997), “Hazrati ayol” (1998), “Yoningdagi baxt” (1999) and, in 2003, the series “Kelin bo‘lish ilmi”, “Kuyov bo‘lish ilmi”, “Qaynonalik ilmi” and “Og‘a-inilik ilmi”. Her work of literary criticism is “Tradition and Individuality in Uzbek Poetry”.

She was given the title of Honoured Worker of Culture of the Republic of Uzbekistan. The publishing house “O‘zbekiston” issued her books “Gul fasli” (first volume, 2013) and “Ayolga qasida” (2015).

Tursunoy Sodiqova died on 14 January 2017, aged 72.