Azam Abidov, writing under the pen name A’zam Obid, is an Uzbek poet, writer, translator, editor and anthologist. His literary bibliography includes six clearly identified original poetry and prose collections, alongside a substantial body of translated, edited and compiled books. His own publications include Yo‘limni Poylaydi Mo‘jiza (2000), Muhabbat Oqaver Tomirlarimda (2002, co-authored with Nodira Abdullaeva), Sog‘intirib Ketgum Qadamlarimni (2006), The Island of Anxiety (2009), Greater Than Patience (2019) and My Name Is Uzbekistan (2022), whose expanded English edition was published on Amazon in 2026. His English-language short-story collection The Neighborhood That Learned to Smile is also part of his recent publication record. The Island of Anxiety brings together poetry in Uzbek, English and Spanish, with English editing by James Day and Spanish translations by Colombian poet Andrea Cote. His poetry has been translated into more than 30 languages, including Russian, Spanish, Armenian, Assamese, Gujarati, Malayalam, Bulgarian, Hindi, Turkish, Chinese and Vietnamese. Two of his collections have also reached readers in translation abroad: The Island of Anxiety was published in Armenian in Yerevan in 2013, and Tunes of Asia appeared in Assamese in India in 2008, translated by Prayag Saikia.
His translation work encompasses classical Uzbek literature, contemporary poetry and fiction, children’s literature, and international non-fiction. He translated Alisher Navoiy’s epic Farhod and Shirin into English, published in Turkey in 2018, and later translated Layli and Majnun, as well as selected ghazals published in Without You, alongside Tursunoy Sodiqova’s Navoiy’s Blooming Garden. His other English-language literary translations include Dream of Lightsome Dawns, featuring the poetry of Cho‘lpon and Usmon Nosir; Tunes of Asia, an anthology of contemporary Uzbek poetry; Erkin A’zam’s Farewell to Fairy Tales and Heirs to the Great Sinner Sheikh San’on; Erkin Vohidov’s Scene of Morning; Salomat Vafo’s A Nameless Ship; and Khosiyat Rustamova’s Beyond Eyesight and Colorful Tears. His other book projects include Two Legends of Uzbekistan by Paul Benjamim, Laura Whitton’s Dancing Bear, Bog‘larga Bahor Keldi by Lutfullo Mahmud, For Peace and Security in Afghanistan, and the Uzbek edition of Muslim Life in America. His work also extends to contemporary international non-fiction, including translations of books by Beatrice Forbes Manz, Nur Ahmad and other authors. His biographical record identifies more than 100 Uzbek authors whose works he has translated into English; his more recent profile also records translations of works by more than 100 international writers into Uzbek.
As a compiler and editor, Abidov has initiated and brought together several significant literary collections. In collaboration with poet Bahrom Ruzimuhammad, he compiled Fish and Snake (2009) and The Language of the Birds (2011), an international poetry anthology presenting poets from five continents in seven languages, with Uzbek translations. His other anthology projects include American Fables and Legends in Uzbek (2019), Amerika Hikoyalari (2011), an anthology of American short fiction in Uzbek, and the October Writer and Artist Residency Program Almanac (2020). His own poetry and stories have appeared in numerous international anthologies, among them World Poetry Tree: Anthology for Hope, Love and Peace (2022), I Cannot Breathe (2022), The Literary Parrot (2021), Asia Sings – Silk Road Literature Series (2021), Svetya ot Angeli (2020), Is It the Sea You Hear in Me? (2018), Glückliche Wirkungen (2017), and We Contain Multitudes: Twelve Years of SOFTBLOW (2016). His work has also appeared in international literary magazines and platforms including Foreign Service Journal (USA), World Poetry, Platform (India), Asia (South Korea), Prometeo (Colombia), Kametsa (Peru), Adamar, Ariel-Art (Germany), Isla Negra, VENT (UK), Carátula (Nicaragua), The Alma Review, Teesta Review, Journal of Literature & Aesthetics (India), Poetry Planetariat and Lyrikline. His poetry has additionally been included in the University of Iowa’s International Writing Program materials and Japan’s JAXA Space Poem Chain project.
Abidov’s poetry has also found its way into music. German composer Moritz Gagern and the United Taklif Band, associated with the Kafkent project and musician Nikita Makrenko, have created musical settings of his poems. One recorded collaboration, “One-Off Minor”, is available through the band’s SoundCloud collection. His musical collaborations also include projects associated with Uzbek singers Sherlai Jurayev and Munojot Yo‘lchiyeva. In international translation, he contributes Uzbek versions of contemporary poetry to POINT Editions’ Poetry Without Borders series, founded by Belgian poet and publisher Germain Droogenbroodt. His published translations include Anna Maria Stępień’s “A Living Miracle”, Germain Droogenbroodt’s “Smart-phone”, and Yusif Samadoghlu’s “Glimmer” and “My Tombstone”, published in POINT issues 786, 792 and 796 respectively in 2024. In 2018, he founded UzLAB – Independent Literature and Art Bridge, an international literary and artistic residency initiative that has hosted approximately 100 poets, writers, translators and artists from more than 25 countries. Through UzLAB, he has created a sustained platform for international literary encounters, creative collaboration and cultural exchange.
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