Majit Gafuri

Majit Gafuri studied at Ğäliä and Räsüliä. The recorded working language is Tatar and Bashkir. The field of work recorded is creative and professional writing, poetry and drama. Subjects and genres recorded for the work are narrative poetry. Places of work recorded in the authority are Zilim-Karanovo, Bolshoy Utyash and Staryye Kiyeshki. Residence is recorded at ulitsa Gogolya. Distinctions recorded are Hero of Labour and People's Poet of Bashkortostan.

• Name — Majit Gafuri • Native Name — Мәжит Ғафури • Birth Name — Ғәбделмәжит Нурғәни улы Ғафуров Ğəbdilməjit Nurğəniy olı Ğafurov • Birthplace — Zilim-Karanovo, Ufa Governorate, Russian Empire • Died — 28 October 1934 • Place of death — Ufa, Bashkir ASSR, USSR • Resting Place — Lenin Garden, Ufa, Bashkortostan, Russia • Occupation — * Poet • Playwright • Journalist • Language — Old Bashkir, Bashkir • Spouse — Zührə Nasırova • Awards — People's Poet of the Republic of Bashkortostan (1923)

Gufari was born to a Tatar-speaking teacher family, in the village of Zilim-Karanovo (now Gafuriysky District, Bashkortostan). At an early age, he showed an aptitude for teaching and in 1893 his father arranged for him to study at a madrasa in a neighboring village. In 1898, he entered the Räsüliä madrasa in Troitsk, where he studied until 1905. During his spare time, Gafuri worked in Zakir Ramiev's gold mines and taught Kazakh children on the steppe. In 1905, he studied at the famous Kazan Möxämmädiä madrasa and then, in 1906, at the Ğäliä madrasa in Ufa. He remained in Ufa after finishing his studies in 1908. He wrote his first poem in Tatar, "Шакирдам ишана" (Şaqirdam işana, I am a Student), in 1902, which was followed in 1904 by his first book, Сибирская железная дорога, или положение нации (Sibirsqaya jeleznaya doroğa, ili polojeniye natsii, The Siberian Railway, or the State of the Nation), was published in Orenburg. Following the First Russian Revolution in 1905, questions of social classes, national identity, and resistance to oppression began to rise in his work. He also was engaged in studying folklore and traditions; in 1910, he published a translation of the Bashkir epic Zayatulak and Hyuhylu (Заятүләк менән Һыуhылыу). After the death of Ğabdulla Tuqay in 1913, Gafuri took up the mantel of a leading democratic voice in Tatar literature. • Illustration — Majit Gafuri with journalists from Ufa, 1926 1917 Russian Revolution, Gafuri wrote poetry and plays celebrating workers and the struggle against tsardom during the Russian Civil War. He also worked to organize local newspapers for Bashkortostan. He also published two semi-autobiographical works, Кара йөзләр (Qara yözlär, Black-Faced) (1927), which was later produced as a play, and Шагыйрьнең алтын приискысында (Şağıyr’neñ altın priisqısında, In the Poet's Gold Mines) (1931). He also wrote fables for children based upon Kazakh folklore. Akhnaf Kharisov in his monograph The Literary Heritage of the Bashkir People (Литературное наследие башкирского народа) noted "... Gafuri is a monolingual writer: He wrote in the Tatar language, but at the same time he served two peoples — the Tatars and the Bashkirs."

Gafuri married Zöhrä Nasıyrova (Зөһрә Насыйрова, 1892–1938), the daughter of tailors from Kilem, Buzdyaksky District. They had two sons.