P rominent t ajik f igures of the

Akasharif

See Juraev, Sharif

Akbar Qahhorov

See Turajonzoda, Hoji Akbar.

Akbar Tursunzod

See Tursunov, Akbar.

Akbarov, Yusuf

Tajik literary critic Yusuf Akbarov, also referred to as Yusufi

Akbarzoda, was born into a farming family in the village of Mazori

Sharif of Panjakent, Sughd, on May 16, 1938. He completed his early

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Iraj Bashiri

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

24

education in Mazori Sharif and the village of Ghusar. He joined the

CPSU in 1965 and became a member of the Union of Writers of the

Soviet Union 1975.

Akbarov graduated from the Faculty of History and Philology of

Dushanbe Pedagogical Institute in 1961, specializing in language, lit-

erature, and history. In the same year, he entered the Rudaki Language

and Literature Institute of the Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan as a

Lecturer. This was followed in 1963 by a year of service in the military.

From 1964 to 1966, he was a senior Lecturer at the same institute. From

1966 to 1968, he was a research scholar at the Grouch Institute of

World Literature in Moscow. From 1991 to the present, he has been a

Scientific Worker for the Republican Committee for Terminology at the

Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan. In 1999, he was appointed the

Associate Director of the Ismo'il Somoni Free Faculty.

Akbarov's creative period dates to his school days. His first essays

were published in Haqiqati Leninabad. In 1973, he successfully de-

fended his thesis, Dostoni Liriki dar Nazmi Imruzai Tojik (Lyrical

Stories in Contemporary Tajik Verse).

Akbarov's contributions include An'ana va Navovari (Tradition and

Modernism, Dushanbe, 1975); Talabi Hayot va Qismati Adabiyot (Life's

Demands and the Lot of Literature, Dushanbe, 1980); She'ri Ihsos va

Tafakkur (The Poetry of Feeling and Thought, Dushanbe, 1985);

Maktabi Shoiri Ustod Lohuti (The Poetic School of Ustod Lahuti,

Dushanbe, 1987); Mehri Vatan (Love of Country, Dushanbe, 1989); and

Justujuhoi Ijodi va Akhloqi (Creative and Ethical Investigations,

Dushanbe, 1990).

Akbarov has traveled to Afghanistan and Russia. He received the

medal of Renown Service in 1999.