Welcome to the podcast “The Stories of Modern Kazakh Prose.” In this podcast, we will be retelling selected stories from 20th-century Kazakh literature, which was born out of—and transformed—the unique oral traditions that historically preserved Kazakhstan’s rich heritage of images, narratives, and poems. Contemporary authors—from Zhussipbek Aimautov and Magzhan Zhumabaev to Olzhas Suleimenov, and Anuar Alimzhanov—have created prose that defines the modern Kazakh nation. With this podcast, we hope to open up their world to a wider audience.
Author and writer:
Dina Sabirova – PhD in literature, book gourmet and a big fan of Kazakh literature. She is a participant and a leader of a number of projects that promote reading literature in Kazakhstan. Member of the jury of the Republican competition of school projects in literature. Awarded as “The Best Teacher of the Republic of Kazakhstan-2021”.
Narrators:
Madina Moldagali – PhD Candidate of Abai Kazakh National Pedagogical University, a young scientist with great potential. She is a member of several republican and international projects. Winner of many competitions. Awarded as “Best Young Specialist of 2020” in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan. At the moment she has more than 10 articles in international and republican scientific journals and conferences. She studies Kazakh and Russian poetry of the 20th and 21st centuries.
Ilnur Bildanov – a teacher and director at the Children’s Acting School and at the Children’s Theater “Game”. He played in the Independent Experimental Theater “Art Shelter BUNKER”, which is located in a real Soviet bomb shelter. Cinematographer and lover of literature. He puts on performances for adults where children play.
Sound engineer – Yeldar Kudaibergenov, artist – Marat Kumekov, executive producer – Aitolkyn Kurmanova.
Mukhtar Magauin is a Kazakh writer, publicist, translator, and researcher of Kazakh folklore. In 1997, he received an international award from the Foundation of Artists and Writers of Turkey “for services to the Turkic world.” The award was presented to…
Anuar Alimzhanov was born on May 2, 1930, in the village of Karlygash in Taldykorgan region. From 1963 to 1967, he worked as editor-in-chief of the Kazakhfilm film studio. He is considered one of the most prominent Kazakh writers of…
Rollan Seisenbayev, born October 11, 1946, in Semipalatinsk, is a prominent contemporary Kazakh writer, playwright, and translator. His novels and short stories have been published by some of the largest publishing houses and magazines worldwide. In addition to his literary…
Satimzhan Sanbayev is a Kazakh writer, film actor, and screenwriter. He won the Prize of the Union of Writers of the USSR in 1981 for the best novel about a working man. Born into the family of the prominent Kazakh…
Myrzhakyp Dulatov was born on November 25, 1885. He lost his parents early. Dulatov’s political creed was clearly articulated when, in 1909, he published his first collection of poetry, Oyan, Kazak! (Wake Up, Kazakh!). The copies in circulation were immediately…
Oralkhan Bokeev (September 28, 1943 – May 17, 1993) was a Kazakh writer, playwright, and journalist. A bright and sensitive writer, a master wordsmith, Bokeev told his stories vividly and with deep knowledge of human nature. The plots of his…
Mukhtar Auezov (September 28, 1897–June 27, 1961) was a prominent Kazakh writer and an honored academic of the Soviet Union. Auezov’s works had a major influence on the development of Kazakh literature. He wrote numerous essays, short stories, and plays…
Zhusipbek Aimautov, a teacher by training, served as the editor-in-chief of Abai magazine and the newspaper Kazak tili. He also left a significant literary legacy as the author of the novels Kartkozha (1926) and Akbilek, as well as a number…
Magzhan Zhumabaev is one of the fathers of modern Kazakh literature. Born in 1893 to a wealthy family in North Kazakhstan, he became one of the co-founders of the reformist political movement Alash Orda. Zhumabaev was a highly educated intellectual…