Olzhas Suleimenov

Born May 18, 1936, in Alma-Ata. Soviet Kazakh poet writing in Russian.

Suleimenov graduated from the department of geology at the Kazakh University in 1959 and from the M. Gorky Institute of Literature in 1961. He began publishing in 1959. His narrative poem Earth, Bow to Man! (1961) was dedicated to the space flight of Iu. A. Gagarin. Suleimenov’s collections of verse include The Argamaks (1961), Sunny Nights (1962), The Parisienne of the Night (1963), The Good Time of the Sunrise (1964; Lenin Komsomol Prize, 1967), Year of the Monkey (1967), and The Book of Clay (1969). Suleimenov also wrote the collection of poetry and prose Over White Rivers (1970).

Suleimenov’s work is closely related to traditional oral and written Kazakh poetry. The network of associations within his poetry is extensive and complex; his works are philosophical and topical and are permeated with intense emotion. The films Land of the Fathers (1966) and The Blue Route (1968) were based on screenplays by Suleimenov.