Sabit Mukanov is a classic of Kazakh

Kazakhs

The Kazakhs are a Turkic people of the northern parts of Central Asia ....

 literature, a poet

Poet

A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...

, a social activist, an academic, and a head of the Writers' Union of Kazakhstan.

Sabit Mukanov was born in 1900 in Tauzar Volost of Akmola Gubernia (now North Kazakhstan Province). He was born into a family of cattle ranchers and took part in the civil war from 1918-1920. He studied in the Institute of Red Professorship from 1930 to 1935. Mukanov's earliest novels were Son of Bai (1928), Pure Love (1931), and Temirtas (Iron Stone) (1935).

He is the author of several novels, such as Botagoz, Syrdaria, and the autobiographical trilogy School of life. Mukanov has studied the history and theory of literature, especially Kazakh literature of the 19th and 20th centuries, such as the works of Kazakh prose writers and poets Saken Seifullin

Saken Seifullin

Saken Seyfullin was a pioneer of modern Kazakh literature, poet and writer, and national activist. Founder and first head of the Union of Writers of Kazakhstan, he was the author of controversial literature calling for greater independence of Kazakhs from Soviet and Russian power. He met...

, Mukhtar Auezov

Mukhtar Auezov

Mukhtar Omarkhanuli Auezov was a prominent Kazakh writer, known best for his work as a playwright.-Life:...

, Tair Zharokov, and Abdilda Tazhibayev. He also researched the scientific and literary heritage of Shokan Ualikhanov and Abay Qunanbayuli and was the first to expound the life and works of the great Kazakh poet Zhambyl Zhabayev. In 1974 his ethnographic work "National Heritage" was published posthumously, which included research about ancient folk traditions, shezhire, the economy and life of pre-revolutionary Kazakhs, and their material and spiritual life.

He died in 1973 in Almaty

Almaty

Almaty , also known by its former names Verny and Alma-Ata , is the former capital of Kazakhstan and the nation's largest city, with a population of 1,348,500...

, Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Ranked as the ninth largest country in the world, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of is greater than Western Europe...

.

Awards

Premium of Academy of Science of Kazakh SSR named after Shokan Ualikhanov (1966)

State premium of Kazakh SSR named after Abay Qunanbayuli

Lenin Award (twice)

Labor Red Standard award (twice)

Symbol of Honour award