August 19 marks the 114th anniversary of the birth of Mirvarid Dilbazi, an outstanding representative of Azerbaijani poetry and the country’s first female People’s Poet.
Sea-news.az reports that the poet, born in 1912 in the village of Khanliglar in the Gazakh district, rendered exceptional services to the development of national poetry and the promotion of the theme of women’s liberation.
After graduating from the Philology Faculty of the Azerbaijan State Pedagogical Institute, she worked as a literature teacher in Guba. Upon returning to Baku, she served as a department head at the Manuscripts Fund of ANAS (1934–1938) and as a translator at the Azerbaijan State Publishing House (1938–1940).
Her first poem, “The Freedom of Women,” was published in 1927 in the Oktyabr Alovları (October Flames) collection. During the years of World War II, six of her books dedicated to the frontline and patriotism saw the light of day.
She is the author of poems such as Mahsati (1945), The Algerian Girl (1961), and Partisan Aliya (1972), as well as rich poetry collections like When Violets Shiver, Mother’s Wing, Mountain Flower, and Season of Lilacs. Following the publication of her 3-volume Selected Works, she was awarded the honorary title of “People’s Poet of Azerbaijan.”
Composers such as Suleyman Alasgarov, Tofiq Guliyev, Fikrat Amirov, Shafagat Akhundova, and Agabaji Rzayeva have set her words to unforgettable songs and romances. She also skillfully translated works by Nizami, Khagani, Pushkin, Shevchenko, and Euripides (the tragedy Hippolytus) into the Azerbaijani language.
Mirvarid Dilbazi, a bright figure of Azerbaijani literature, passed away in Baku on July 12, 2001.
