Akhmet Iskhak

(also, A. A. Iskha-kov). Born Apr. 18 (May 1), 1905, in Kazan. Soviet Tatar poet. Member of the CPSU since 1945.

The son of an office worker, Iskhak worked as a journalist from 1925 to 1939. He fought in the Great Patriotic War (1941–45). He began publishing his works in 1923. His first collection, Songs of Stone Streets, appeared in 1928. Iskhak’s main poetic themes are the greatness of the Soviet motherland, the friendship of peoples, and the struggle for peace. His verses and narrative poems of the war years (“Vow” and “Song of the Tank Commander and Hero Petr Novikov”) are deeply courageous and patriotic. The poetic cycle Dawn Over Asia (1953) praises the struggle of peoples against colonialist oppression. He is also author of the satirical collection A Questionnaire for the Woman in Love (1966, in Russian). Iskhak has translated works by A. S. Pushkin, M. Iu. Lermontov, V. V. Mayakovsky, T. G. Shev-chenko, and Navoi into Tatar. Iskhak was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor.