Qaysin Quli

Kaisyn Kuliev
Kaisyn Kuliev in 1978
Born	1 November 1917 Upper Chegem, Russian Empire
Died	4 June 1985(1985-06-04) (aged 68) Chegem Pervy, USSR
Occupation	Poet, writer
Nationality	Balkar

Kaisyn Shuvayevich Kuliev or Qaysin Quli (Russian: Кайсы́н Шува́евич Кули́ев, tr. Kaisyn Shuvayevich Kuliyev; Karachay-Balkar: Къулийланы Шууаны жашы Къайсын, tr. Quliylanı Şuwanı caşı Qaysın; 1 November 1917 – 4 June, 1985) was a Balkar poet. He wrote in the Karachay-Balkar language and his poems are widely translated to most languages in Soviet Union, such as Russian, Ossetian, Lithuanian, Belorussian, Armenian, and to many others languages of the former Republics of the Soviet Union and worldwide. Kaisyn Kuliev's books were published in 140 languages of Europe, Asia and America.

Kaisyn Kuliev (Quli) was born on November 1, 1917, in Balkar aul Upper Chegem to a family headed by a stock-breeder and hunter. He spent his childhood in the mountains, but was orphaned at an early age and started to work. In 1926 a school was established in his aul, and he started to read and study Russian. By the age of ten he had written his first poems. After Kaisyn Kuliev graduated from school, he entered a technical college in Nalchik and saw his first publications iat 17. In 1935 Kaisyn Kuliev arrived in Moscow and entered GITIS Theater Institute. In the same period he attended lectures at the Maxim Gorky Literature Institute and wrote poems. In 1939 he returned to Nalchik, where he taught literature at the local teachers' training college. In 1940, he published his first book of poetry, Hello, Morning!.

In 1940 Kuliev was drafted into the Red Army, where he served in the paratrooper brigade. In the summer of 1941, his brigade was transferred to Latvian SSR, where he fought in the Second World War. Later he was wounded in a battle near Orel. While in the hospital Kaisyn Kuliev wrote many poems that were published in Pravda, and Krasnaya Zvezda and later he participated in the battle of Stalingrad as a military correspondent for the Syny Otechestva newspaper. Participating in the operation to liberate the Southern cities, Kaisyn Kuliev was wounded again. During the period between 1942 and 1944, he wrote In an hour of Trouble, About Someone Who Didn't Return, and Perekop.