February 9 marks birth anniversary of Mukagali Makatayev

Today February 9 marks the 91st birthday of great Kazakh writer and poet Mukagali Makatayev. He passed away 46 years ago, but his rich literary heritage is still alive in the hearts of admirers of his creative work. Mukagali Makatayev left a legacy of over 400 works of various genres. In honor of his memory, a special hall welcomes visitors in the capital’s National Library.

“In this hall, all his books and works are stored in electronic format, which can be viewed through scanning a QR code. Since the hall is intended for creative events, various literary meetings are held here in order to popularize the heritage of Mukagali Makatayev,” said Zharkynbek Zhumadiluly, a staff member, National Academic Library of Kazakhstan.

Mukagali Makatayev made a great contribution to the history of Kazakh literature. He was a talented translator and translated into Kazakh such great pieces of world literature as sonnets by William Shakespeare, poems by Walter Whitman and The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri.

“We lived in a two-room house in Karasaz village. I was 10 years old at that time, but I remember everything. One of the rooms was filled with my father's books. He was constantly working on them. My father was a very hardworking and talented man. We are trying to popularize the works of the great writer,” said Zhuldyz Makatayev, Mukagali Makatayev’s son.

 

 

Translation by Ademi Serikbay

Editing by Saule Mukhamejanova