Muhammad Ali Ahmedov

The talented poet, publicist, writer, and translator Muhammad Ali entered literature at the end of the 50s. He was awarded the honorary title «People's Writer of Uzbekistan» in 1992. In 1999, he was awarded the «Mehnat shuhrati» (Glory of Labor) order.

The talented poet, writer, and translator Muhammad Ali (Ahmedov Muhammad Ali) was born on March 1, 1942, into a peasant family in the Boz district of the Andijan region. In 1959, he graduated from the Navoi secondary school in the Bekabad district of the Tashkent region, then worked at the Bekabad sand and gravel quarry.

He studied at the Gorky Literary Institute in Moscow (1966).

He worked as a teacher in schools in the Andijan and Fergana regions. He served as a literary staff member at «Sharq yulduzi» magazine (1966), editor (1967), head of a department (1975), and editor-in-chief (1982) at the Gafur Gulyam Publishing House, editor-in-chief at the literary-dramatic editorial office of Uzbekistan Television (1985), chairman of the Center for Literary Translation and Literary Relations of the Writers' Union of Uzbekistan (1989), professor at Tashkent State University (1993), head of the Department of Ethics and Aesthetics (1994), and chairman of the board at the International «Oltin Meros» (Golden Heritage) Charitable Foundation (1999-2003). Since 2003, he has been the chairman of the board of the International Amir Temur Charitable Foundation. Since 1992, he has been teaching Uzbek language at the University of Washington in the USA.

Muhammad Ali entered literature at the end of the 50s. His first poem was published in the press in 1957.

Nearly 30 of the poet's poetry books have been published. Among these, books such as «Fazodagi hislar» (1967), «Shafaq» (1968), «Otalar yurti» (1970), «Alvon chechaklar» (1973), «Dostonlar» (1974), «Ninachi haqida ertak» (1976), «Oq nur» (1977), «Ilhom parisi» (1980), «Boqiy dunyo» (1981), «Sevsam, sevilsam» (1983), «Gumbazdagi nur» (1985), «Sen bir gulsan» (1989), «Ona duosi» (1994), and «Saylanma» (1997) stand out.

In Muhammad Ali's creative work, poems such as «Mashrab», «Gumbazdagi nur», «Zaminda yashaymiz», and «Muhabbat», the poetic novel «Boqiy dunyo», and the historical novels «Sarbadorlar» and «Ulug‘ saltanat» occupy a large place.

As a publicist, Muhammad Ali has been wielding a bold pen. In his articles «O‘z-o‘zingni anglab yet» (1988), «Haqiqatdan chekinma, Tarix!» (1990), and «Qafasdagi bulbullar» (1996), current issues of our history are discussed. Books such as «Oshiq bo‘lmay Haq diydorin ko‘rsa bo‘lmas» (1992), «Men ko‘rgan Amerika» (2000), and «Amir Temur chamani» (2006) were warmly welcomed by the literary and scientific community.

Literary translation occupies a leading place in the author's work. The ancient Indian epic «Ramayana» (1978), the Karakalpak epics «Shahriyor» (1977) and «Masposhsho» (1985), and poetry books by Robert Burns (1971) and Galaktion Tabidze (1982) were published in the poet's translation. Also, some works of Khaqani, Schiller, Byron, Pushkin, Lermontov, Magtymguly, Abai, Tagore, and Gamzatov were translated by Muhammad Ali. For his research dedicated to the Uzbek interpretation of the poetics of the «Ramayana», the translation scholar was granted the scientific degree of Candidate of Philological Sciences (1992).

The poet's works have been translated into more than twenty-five languages of the world. Muhammad Ali's contribution to the development of Uzbek literature was duly appreciated by our government. He was awarded the honorary title «People's Writer of Uzbekistan» in 1992, and in 1999 he was awarded the «Mehnat shuhrati» order. For the translation of the «Shahriyor» epic, he was awarded the Berdakh State Prize of the Republic of Karakalpakstan (1984).

He is currently creating works about the era of Amir Temur. So far, the novels «Jahongir Mirzo» (2003) and «Umarshayx Mirzo» (2006) have been printed. In 2005, his novel-chronicle «Abadiy sog‘inchlar» was published.