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This year, April 26 marks the 120th anniversary of the birth of the classic of Kazakh literature, writer, public figure Sabit Mukanov. Having started his creative activity with poetry, Sabit Mukanovich showed himself in all genres of literature. One of the brightest pearls in the heritage of Mukanov as a poet was the song "Kazakh waltz". Together with the famous composer Latyf Hamidi, he created a real masterpiece, which performed by the incomparable Kulyash Baiseitova immediately conquered the entire country. This hymn of young love still sparkles with bright colors, passed from generation to generation.
Sabit Mukanov was born in 1900 in the Akmola province, in the town of Zhamanshubar (now North Kazakhstan region). He lost his parents early, the world of good for him was the world of fairy tales. The boy was taught Arabic from an early age by a mullah. In 1919, he graduated from courses in Omsk, at the same time he was the secretary of Magzhan Zhumabayev. After that, he returned to work as a teacher in his own village. Then there were years of work in the press, including in the newspaper "Enbekshi Kazak", now the Republican newspaper "Egemen Kazakhstan". He was the Executive Secretary of KazAPW. In 1935, he graduated from the literary department of the Moscow Institute of Red Professorship. In 1935-1937, he worked as an editor of the newspaper "Qazaq ádebıetі", in 1937-1941 – a Professor at KazPI, for ten years from 1941 to 1951, he was Chairman of the Board of the Union of Writers of Kazakhstan.
Sabit Mukanov is one of the founders of Kazakh poetry. He dedicated his works to the lives of ordinary people and raised the issue of equality. Freedom and the call to class struggle he sang in the poems "Duma", "Lament of the laborer" and "Freedom". In 1928, he wrote one of his most famous works - the poem "Sulushash". Through the prism of unhappy love and the death of lovers – Altai and Sulushash, Mukanov described the living conditions of his native people under the new system, the acute problems of class struggle, injustice, and the oppression of the poor by rich bais.
In 1934, the publishing house "Soviet literature" published a poetry collection "Tulpar", which included poems by S. Mukanov of different years, starting from the student period to1933.
Since the late 1920s, Sabit Mukanovich began to actively express himself in prose. He worked in the story genre for more than 20 years. At this time, such stories as "Secret of Akbope", "Friends", "Baluan Sholak", "The son of the shepherd" and others were published. Among the first prose works was the novel "Adaskandar". In 1927, the writer began working on the novel "Qyzyljar", which unfortunately was not finished.
One of the most important novels was his work "Botagoz". The work unfolds events that covered the eve of the October revolution, the revolutionary years and the civil war in Kazakhstan.
The first President of Kazakhstan - Elbassy Nursultan Nazarbayev in one of his interviews noted: "In our childhood, there were not so many books in school. In those days, computers and the Internet were not available. My main hobby was books. All of us then read the novel "Botagoz" by Sabit Mukanov.
During the Great Patriotic War, the poetry of Sabit Mukanov became a platform from which the poet strengthened the spirit of the people, glorified the feats of Soviet soldiers, called for the fight against fascism. Military lyrics were revealed in the verses: "Powerful strike", "Letter to the front", "People's Batyr Amantay", "At Berlin", "Death of fascism".
The last years of his life Sabit Mukanovich dedicated to his favorite hero - the Kazakh scientist, historian, ethnographer, and educator – Shokan Valikhanov. The novel "Flashed meteor" became the most famous work about the glorified Kazakh researcher. By the way, in this work, the author proved himself and as an expert of the native region. In the second book of the novel, he gave a lot of historical information about the cities of Kazakhstan, the origin of their names.
Sabit Mukanov was a very sociable and open person. Among his friends were Alexey Tolstoy, Ivan Shukhov, Galina Serebryakova, Gabit Musrepov and many other famous figures. With his wife Mariam Kozhakhmetovna the writer lived for 47 years until his death, they raised six children. Sabit Mukanov passed away on April 18, 1973, in Almaty, a week before his 74th birthday. He is buried in the Kensay cemetery.
In Almaty in the house where S. Mukanov lived in 1965-1973 now opened a museum-apartment. The study, living room, and bedroom were completely preserved. The exhibition presents personal documents, photos, and manuscripts of the writer. Books, souvenirs and his favorite dombra tell about how the great son of the Kazakh people lived and created.
The memory of the outstanding Kazakh poet and writer has been immortalized: the North Kazakhstan Regional Universal Scientific Library, the regional Kazakh Music and Drama Theater, as well as streets in cities and villages of the country bear his name.
Collections of works by Sabit Mukanov are housed in the Library of the Elbassy. The works of the Master of the word are included in the Golden collection of the World Literature Treasure.