Bozor Sobir was a preeminent Tajik poet and politician, known as the national poet of Tajikistan and 'the conscience of the nation'.
42 Facts About Bozor Sobir
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Bozor Sobir is a laureate of a prestigious National Rudaki Poetry Award, Tajikistan's most eminent prize for poetry and the Star of the President 3rd degree.
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Bozor Sobir was one of the founders of the Democratic Party, serving as its deputy leader.
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Bozor Sobir was elected a senator in the Supreme Council of Tajikistan, but resigned from this post and remains the only politician to have done so.
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Bozor Sobir subsequently resigned from the party, reportedly because of a disagreement with the leadership over the growing Islamic elements within the party.
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Bozor Sobir remains popular in Tajikistan and is the best-known Tajik poet outside the country.
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Bozor Sobir's younger brother Temur Sobirov was a respected mathematician, with a school and a street named after him in Tajikistan.
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The first publication of Bozor Sobir's poetry was in 1960, while he was a university student.
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Bozor Sobir was commissioned to translate works of British poet and politician Lord Byron, French poets Arthur Rimbaud and Guillaume Apollinaire, Chilean poet and politician Pablo Neruda, Russian poet Sergei Yesenin and Lithuanian-Soviet poet Eduardas Miezelaitis.
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The poems of Bozor Sobir are characterized by their novel form, penetrating lyricism, high spirituality, and a tense search for truth and beauty in work and love.
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Bozor Sobir contributed much to the revival of Tajik national culture, the formation of the Tajik identity and building of a national consciousness in Tajikistan before, during and after the Soviet era.
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Bozor Sobir's poems are known for their imagery and creativity.
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Bozor Sobir's poems became highly political, including current national and international events, and at times anti-religious.
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Bozor Sobir saw the promotion of the Tajik language for Tajik people, during the predominance of use of Russian in Soviet times, as of utmost importance.
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Bozor Sobir was one of the very few who actively wrote and politically worked to ignite people's awareness about Tajik identity, history, and traditions.
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Some years following his exile, some of Bozor Sobir's poems developed a new anti-Islam theme.
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Bozor Sobir's poems criticizing religion caused a furor, especially among the religious, which has yet to settle down.
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Bozor Sobir was a proponent of bettering the standing of women in society, and for equality of the genders.
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Bozor Sobir penned multiple poems criticizing the role religion enforces on women, including the rhyming poem titled Entombed Alive, Women in Muslim Nations :.
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Bozor Sobir has published three collections of children's poems dedicated to his grandchildren:.
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Bozor Sobir was among the founders of the country's pro-democracy movement, and the Democratic Party.
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Bozor Sobir resigned from his position as a deputy leader of the party after Islamic elements joined the movement.
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Bozor Sobir was the first well-known literary figure to join the gatherings at the main square in Dushanbe, the capital, in what became months-long protests.
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When his political activism was criticized by poets and writers, who were of the opinion that politics was not suited for intellectuals, Bozor Sobir responded that poetry is always connected to politics.
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Bozor Sobir was one of the leading planners and orators in the protests.
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Bozor Sobir became known as the 'conscience of the nation'.
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Bozor Sobir was one of the leaders of the opposition when the civil war erupted.
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Bozor Sobir was taken to an unmarked vehicle by unidentified people, who were later revealed to be procuracy officials.
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Bozor Sobir's arrest took place without a warrant, and it was only three days afterwards that an official warrant was issued.
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Amnesty International stated that the criminal charges against Bozor Sobir were without reasonable foundation.
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Bozor Sobir had been under arrest for nine months and nine days.
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In 1995, Bozor Sobir moved his family to the United States, where he worked at the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington, teaching Tajik in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilization.
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Bozor Sobir had a connection to the university since 1991, when he gave lectures and poetry readings.
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Bozor Sobir likewise saw value in keeping the Cyrillic alphabet and was against adopting the Arabic alphabet, stating that Russians and Tajiks are strongly linked by history and lineage.
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Many of Bozor Sobir's poems have been set to music by Tajik composers, and are played on Tajik TV channels on an almost daily basis.
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Bozor Sobir agreed to the former, stating that those of Kabul were either participants or bystanders to the brutal murder.
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Bozor Sobir agreed and was met in Dushanbe Airport by government officials.
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In September 2013, Bozor Sobir was granted the order Star of the President 3rd degree.
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In December 2016, Bozor Sobir returned to the US for what was supposed to be a short trip to visit his children and grandchildren.
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Bozor Sobir was one of the most patriotic poets who made great efforts in cultivating a sense of national identity and national pride.
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Bozor Sobir's body was transported with full state honors to his homeland and buried in Dushanbe.
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Bozor Sobir's burial is in the Luchob Cemetery, with other public figures of Tajikistan.