Mukaghali Makatayev

Mukaghali Makatayev (Kazakh: Мұқағали Мақатаев , February 9, 1931 — March 27, 1976) — Kazakh Soviet poet, writer and translator.

Mukaghali Makatayev was born on February 9, 1931 in Karasaz village in Narynkol (modern Raiymbek) district of Almaty Region. In 1948-1949 he studied at the Faculty of Philology of the Kazakh State University. In 1952—1969 he worked in a high school as a teacher of Russian language, a speaker on the Kazakh Radio, an executive secretary of "The Soviet border" (Kazakh: Советтік шекара) newspaper, a literary contributor to the newspapers "Socialist Kazakhstan" (Kazakh: Социалистік Қазақстан) and "Culture and Life" (Kazakh: Мәдениет және Тұрмыс) and "Star" (Kazakh: Жұлдыз) magazine. In 1970 he joined the Writers' Union of Kazakhstan. In 1973—1974 he studied in the Moscow Institute of Arts and Letters.^[1][2]

Mukaghali Makatayev’s poetic works were first published in 1948. He became famous with his poem «Appassionata» (Kazakh: Аппассионата, 1962). Poem "Lenin" (Kazakh: Ленин, 1964) and "The Moor" (Kazakh: Мавр, 1970) were devoted to Lenin and Marx. Poetry collections "Hello Friends" (Kazakh: Армысыңдар достар, 1966), "You came, my Swallow?" (Kazakh: Қарлығашым келдің бе?, 1968), "Alas, my heart" (Kazakh: Дариға жүрек, 1972), "When swans asleep" (Kazakh: Аққулар ұйықтағанда, 1974), "The warmth of life" (Kazakh: Шуағым менің, 1975), "Poem of Life" (Kazakh: Өмір-дастан, 1976), "River of Life" (Kazakh: Өмір-өзен, 1978), "Heart sings" (Kazakh: Жырлайды жүрек, 1-2 Books, 1982), "Sholpan" (Kazakh: Шолпан, 1984) and others entered the golden fund of the Kazakh national poetry. Prose works included in the collection entitled "Two Swallows" (Kazakh: Қос қарлығаш, 1988). A lot of Makatayev’s poems were turned into songs.^[1]

Makatayev translated into the Kazakh language sonnets of William Shakespeare (1970), poems of Walt Whitman (1969), Dante's "Divine Comedy" (1971) and some other literary works.

Mukaghali Makatayev died in Almaty on March 27, 1976, at the age of 45. In 1999 Mukaghali Makatayev was posthumously awarded with the State Prize of the Republic of Kazakhstan for the collection of poems under the title «Amanat».^[1]

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