Gʻafur Gʻulomovich Gʻulomov was born to a poor family on May 10, 1903, in Tashkent. His father, Gʻulom Mirza Orif, knew Russian and was fond of reading poems and could himself write poetry. He died when Gʻafur Gʻulom was only nine years old. Gʻafur Gʻulom first went to a so-called old school, a quasi-Muslim school, and later enrolled in a Russian tuzem school, an elementary school for non-Russians in Turkestan. After completing a teacher preparation program, he started to teach at a contemporary school. In 1923, he was appointed the head of the curriculum department at an orphanage. During that time Gʻafur Gʻulom also started working on the editorial board of different publications, such as Kambagʻal dehqon, Qizil Oʻzbekiston, and Sharq haqiqati. Working on editorial boards gave him a chance to learn about the life of ordinary citizens. Gʻafur Gʻulom died of illness at the age of sixty three on July 10, 1966, in Tashkent.
Works
Gʻafur Gʻulom's first poetry collections, Dinamo and Tirik qoʻshiqlar, were published in 1931 and 1932, respectively. In these books he criticized the unsophisticated traditions of the peoples of Turkestan and praised the diligent work of ordinary citizens. In the 1930s, in addition to numerous short stories, essays, and satirical articles, Gʻafur Gʻulom wrote many longer narratives, such as Netay, Yodgor, and Tirilgan murda. During the Soviet-German war against Nazi Germany and its allies, Gʻafur Gʻulom devoted his time and efforts to writing about the war. His poems Sen yetim emassan, Oltin medal, Kuzatish, Vaqt, and Sogʻinish became highly popular among Uzbeks. In 1943, Gʻafur Gʻulom became a member of the Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan. During the last 20 years of his life, he published almost twenty poetry books. Many of his works have been translated into other languages. Gʻafur Gʻulom received many awards and honors throughout his life. He was awarded the Order of the Badge of Honour in 1944. For his compilation of poems about the Soviet-German war, Sharqdan kelayotirman, Gʻafur Gʻulom was awarded the State Stalin Prize in 1946. He received the Order of the Red Banner of Labour twice, in 1939 and 1963. He was also twice awarded the Order of Lenin. In 1970, he was posthumously awarded the Lenin Prize. In 2000, Gʻafur Gʻulom was posthumously awarded the National Order of Merit, one of independent Uzbekistan's most prestigious medals.
