P rominent t ajik f igures of the

Mirzoev, Ghaffor

Tajik poet Ghaffor Mirzoev was born on January 5, 1929, to a

family of farmers in Khavaling in the Kulab province. Orphaned very

early in life, he grew up in an orphanage.

Mirzoev graduated from the Kulab Pedagogical College in 1945 and

from the Dushanbe Pedagogical Institute in 1949. Before 1952, he

worked for several journals, including Haqiqati Kulob, Bolsheviki

Khovaling, and Sadoi Sharq. He also served on the Tajikistan

Committee for Peace.

Mirzoev's forté is poetry. He started writing poetry as early as his

high school days; he made a considerable impact not only on Tajik

audiences but on many other Soviet lovers of poetry as well. In

---