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Azam Abidov Articles, Translations from Uzbek poetry, Адабиёт янгиликлари, Интервьюлар

A’zam Obidov, a Tashkent-based poet, literary translator and cultural activist who founded Uzbekistan’s Literature and Art Bridge, told Global Voices:

In Uzbekistan, there are no small international festivals of poetry, or writers. The many calls I have made to establish a Navoiy Institute abroad are being ignored. There is no private-public partnership in the area of the arts, culture and literature. If those fields are to develop, they have to be independent, that is entirely outside of the sphere of the state, as it is done in Europe and the US. For that, we also need normal laws, for example, if a businessperson or a philanthropist or an organization supports the arts or literature, they automatically get a tax-cut.

While Navoiy has been widely translated into Russian, there is indeed very little translation available in English, complains Obidov who calls for more funds and attention from the government on this task. Meanwhile, he has himself produced a few translations showing the sophistication and complexity of Navoiy’s language and imagery, in the hope that other translators will be inspired to recast Navoiy in their own languages.

https://globalvoices.org/2021/02/09/nearly-six-centuries-after-his-birth-who-owns-alisher-navoiy-the-father-of-uzbek-literature/

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