Evgeniy Abdullaev

Evgeniy Viktorovich Abdullaev was born on 19 April 1971 in Tashkent. He spent his childhood in Namangan and has lived in Tashkent since 1978. In 1993 he graduated from the Faculty of Philosophy of Tashkent State University (today the National University of Uzbekistan).

He writes in Russian, publishing poetry and prose under the pseudonym Sukhbat Aflatuni and critical articles under his own name. His work has appeared in the journals “Arion”, “Druzhba Narodov”, “Zvezda Vostoka”, “Znamya”, “Oktyabr”, “Novaya Yunost” and others, and in the almanacs “Malyi Shelkovyi Put” (“The Little Silk Road”, Tashkent–Moscow, 1999–2005) and “Interpoeziya” (New York–Moscow, 2005).

He is one of the founders of the literary group “Tashkent Poetic School” and is named among those who created the almanac “Malyi Shelkovyi Put” and the Tashkent Open Poetry Festival. He has sat on the editorial board of “Zvezda Vostoka” since 2006 and on the editorial council of “Druzhba Narodov” since 2008.

His first book of poems, “Psalms and Sketches”, appeared in Moscow in 2003, followed by “Landscape with a Severed Ear” (2008). His prose includes “Tashkent Novel” (2006), “+39” (2011), “The Adoration of the Magi” (2015), “The Ant King” (2016), “Earthly Paradise” (2019), the collection of novellas “Clay Letters, Floating Apples” (2020), “A Shelter for Homeless Cacti” (2021) and the novel “Katechon” (2024).

Abdullaev is a laureate of the “Oktyabr” magazine prize (2004, 2006), the Russian Prize (2005) and the “Triumph” youth prize (2006). His novel “Earthly Paradise” was shortlisted for the Big Book prize in 2019, and in 2025 he won the Yasnaya Polyana prize in the “Contemporary Russian Prose” category for “Katechon”. He teaches philosophy, logic and ancient languages at the Tashkent Orthodox Seminary.