“Jalil’s Star” lit up in Kazakhstan

August 28, 2019

In the capital of Kazakhstan in the National Academic Library, the awarding ceremony of the youth contest “Star of Jalil”, which received international status this year, was held.

The “Jalil Star” contest was first held in Astana in 2016 as part of the celebration of the 110th anniversary of the Tatar hero poet Musa Jalil. It is noteworthy that it started on the poet’s birthday – February 15, and the award ceremony was timed to coincide with the day of his memory, August 25. By the way, this year marks the 75th anniversary of the death of Musa Jalil.

The contest was organized by the Tatar Educational Cultural Center “Duslyk”, working under the auspices of the Assembly of Peoples of Kazakhstan and the Republican Public Association “Kazakhstan Congress of Tatars and Bashkirs.”

“By establishing this contest, we set ourselves the goal of not only creating the spiritual culture of young people by introducing the great Tatar poet to the literary heritage, but also strengthening interethnic harmony in Kazakhstan’s society,” says Duslyk Center Chairman Yannat Nizamutdinova. – More than two hundred thousand representatives of the Tatar people live in Kazakhstan for whom the legendary poet is an icon and his heroic path is an example of patriotism and loyalty to the Fatherland. There are a lot of admirers of Jalil’s works among Kazakhs, Russians, representatives of other ethnic groups of the republic. In addition, the contest revealed new young talents. ”

The contest “Star of Jalil” was attended by more than 500 authors from all over the former Soviet Union and foreign countries. As a result, 300 works were selected. The main part was composed of poems, essays and translations of Jalil’s poems.

The jury consisted of famous writers, journalists and philologists of Kazakhstan, Russia, Azerbaijan and the USA. Participants were divided into three age categories. The youngest winner was a fourth-grader from the city of Chimkent Samira Abdugapparova. She translated the poem of Musa Jalil into Uzbek.

Shamil Bagautdinov