GAFURI, Mazhit
GAFURI, Mazhit [Gafurov Gabdelmazhit Nurganievich (according to other data, Abdulgafurov Abdulmazit Nurganievich); 20.7.1880, Derevnya Zilim‑Karanovo of Sterlitamaksky Uyezd of Ufa Gub. (now Gafuriysky Raion of the RB) — 28.10.1934, Ufa, buried in the Lenin Park]. People’s Poet of the BASSR (1923). Member of the Union of Writers of the BASSR. Studied in the Rasuliya (Troitsk, 1898), Mukhammadiya (Kazan, 1904) and Galiya (1906) madrassas. One of the founders of Bashkir Soviet Literature. Author of the following novels: the Life Past in Poverty (1904), the Hungry Year, or the Sold Girl (1908), the Poor (1909), the Steps of Life (1928), On the Gold Minds of the Poet (1930) and The Dark‑complexioned. The Rabochy (Worker) poem by G. was the basis for the author’s libretto for the same opera(1930; music by G.S.Almukhametov, V.I.Vinogradov and S.Gabyashi; staged in Kazan). G. is the author of the following books for children: Stories about the Distant Past (1927), Lost Aktynak (1930), Wild Goose and others. He published one of the versions of the Zayatulyak and Khyukhylu epic. The creative works of G. have been translated into the Kazakh, Ukrainian, Chuvash and other languages.