Suleiman Rustam

(pen name of Suleiman Ali-Abbas ogly Rustamzade). Born Nov. 14 (27), 1906, in Baku. Soviet Azerbaijani poet, playwright, and public figure. Honored Art Worker (1943). People’s Poet of Azerbaijan (1960). Member of the CPSU since 1940. Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the Azerbaijan SSR since 1971.

Suleiman Rustam studied at the University of Azerbaijan beginning in 1927 and at Moscow University beginning in 1929. He began publishing in 1923. The poems in the collections From Sorrow to Joy (1927), The Star (1934), Chapaev (1936), and The Romance of the Night (1938) dealt with socialist construction, the Komsomol, and the heroism of the Civil War.

During the Great Patriotic War (1941–45), Suleiman Rustam wrote the widely known poems “The Oath,” “The Soul of the Caucasus Speaks,” and “The Mother and the Postman.” In 1941 he wrote poems devoted to Southern (Iranian) Azerbaijan, for example, “Verses of Tabriz.” The collection Two Shores (1949; State Prize of the USSR, 1950) dealt with the hard life of destitute Azerbaijani workers in Iran.

After the war, Suleiman Rustam published collections of poetry about the peace movement and postwar construction. The narrative poem A Word About the Russian Brother (1960) depicted Azerbaijan’s path during the revolution. Suleiman Rustam also wrote a verse play about a folk hero, Gachak Nabi (1940; 2nd version, 1948), and a comedy about the contemporary Azerbaijani countryside, Durna (1948). Suleiman Rustam has been awarded two Orders of Lenin, two other orders, and several medals.