Today is the 170th anniversary of the birth of the Kazakh poet, writer, public figure, composer, founder of Kazakh written literature and its first classic, Abay. He brought the people of Kazakhstan a new system of thought and knowledge, became a bridge between the cultures of the East and Western Europe.
Abay was born on July 29th 1845 in Zhidebay in the Semipalatinsk province in the large feudal family of Qunanbay Oskenbaev. Abay's real name is Ama Ibrahim, but the nickname Abay, which his grandmother Zere gave him, stuck for the rest of his life.
Abay encountered the writings of Alisher Navoi, Nizami, Ferdowsi, Fizuli, Ibn Sina. He translated Krylov, Lermontov, Pushkin, Goethe and Byron.
Abay died in 1904 on his native steppes.
