P rominent t ajik f igures of the

Rabiev, Abdurofe'

Tajik author and journalist Abdurofe' Rabiev was born in the village

of Mihnatabad in the Vakhsh district of the Qurghonteppa province on

November 7, 1951.

Rabiev graduated from Tajikistan State University with a degree in

journalism in 1970. In 1975, he graduated from Moscow University

with a degree in Persian and Tajiki languages and literatures. In 1987,

he received a degree from the Moscow Advanced School of Dramatic

Arts. For a while, he worked in the literature division of the Committee

on Radio and Television of the Republic, and contributed to the weekly

Adolat.

Rabiev contributed many articles and stories focusing on the lives of

workers, farmers, and technicians. He is known to have traveled all

around the republic, pad in hand, recording materials for literary reflec-

tion. His characters, therefore, live and act like actual people engaged in

building a new life.

Rabiev's first stories were published in a collection entitled Obkhiz

(Waterlogged, 1978). His main themes deal with ethics and culture, on

the one hand, and the preservation of ancient traditions of the Tajiks and

the promotion of Tajik nationalism among the youth of Tajikistan, on

the other hand. His other contributions include "Aspi Okharin" ("The

Last Horse," 1982), "Mahabbat va Javonmardi" ("Love and Chivalry,"

1984), 'Qissai Ruzgori Sohibdilon" ("The Story of the True Friends,"

with Otakhon Latifi, 1985), "Intizori" ("Waiting," 1986), and "Dustonro

Namifarushnad" ("Friends Are Not for Sale," 1988).

Rabiev joined the Union of Writers of the Soviet Union in 1983.