Khalizhan Nurgozhaevich Bekkhozhin

Born Dec. 2 (15), 1913, in Pavlodar. Soviet Kazakh poet. Member of the CPSU since 1954.

Bekkhozhin graduated from the Kazakhstan Pedagogical Institute in 1938. His work began to be published in the mid-1930’s. He is the author of the poems The Forest Maiden (1939), about the talents of the people; Baltabai the Partisan, about the Civil War in Kazakhstan; the collections of verse The Campaign (1944), Spring (1948), Song of the Brave (1965), and John—the Negro’s Son (1966); and the collections of poems and verse Three Passages (1962) and Seven Poems (1966). The collection The Voice of Friendship (1954) consists of verses on socialist internationalism. Bekkhozhin’s popular poem Maria, Daughter of Egor (1949–54) is about the love of a Kazakh youth and a Russian girl. His play If Hearts Are True was written in 1961.