"The Stories of the Great Steppe" saw light in U.S.

On June 12, 2013 the Lev Gumilyev Eurasian National University hosted the presentation of the anthology of modern Kazakh literature titled «The Stories of the Great Steppe. The Anthology of Modern Kazakh Literature» which was published in the United States under the aegis of Kazakhstan Foreign Affairs Minister Yerlan Idrissov. Deputy Foreign Minister Kairat Sarybai stressed that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, alongside the diplomatic activity, specifically focuses on promotion of the achievements of Kazakh culture, art and literature internationally. At the initiative of a number of diplomatic missions of Kazakhstan abroad, embassies of Kazakhstan in Turkey and Poland published "Kүnge ұshқan sұңқar" (in Turkish and Kazakh), "Kyz Jibek", "Koblandy-batyr", the Kazakh fairy tales in Polish. In the Kasachiche Bibliothek series, works by Abai, Auezov, Tahawi Ahtanov, Abdi-Jamil Nurpeisov, Abish Kekilbayev, Herold Belger, Olzhas Suleimenov, Valery Mikhailov, Dukenbay Doszhan were published in the German language with support of the Embassy of Kazakhstan in Germany and the personal involvement of well-known translator and publisher, a friend of Kazakh literature and holder of Kazakh PEN-club award Leonard Koshuth. It is important in the future to translate the works of Kazakh literature into other languages from the original. Integration of Kazakh literature into the world art is of strategic importance for the development of nationhood, intercultural dialogue and our country’s international standing, says director of the Institute of Literature and Art Ualikhan Kalizhanov in his introduction to the anthology. 

Professor at Columbia University Rafis Abazov compiled the Stories of the Great Steppe, embracing the Kazakh prose from Gabit Musrepov to Didar Amantay and poetry from Olzhas Suleimenov to Shomishbay Sariev. It is the first joint publication of the Institute of Literature and Art and Columbia University. It was translated into English by Sergei Levshin and Ilya Bernstein.

The book is beautifully decorated and is supplied with a glossary. The M.Auezov Institute of Literature and Art is boosting international ties, which is conductive to joint research projects with the National Science Academies and universities (Russia, Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria, Belarus, USA, France, Germany, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Iran, Korea, Kyrgyzstan, China, Uzbekistan). The Institute has published collective monographs "Essays on world literature on XX-XXI centuries turn", "Literary and art dialogue", "International ties of Kazakh literature of the independence period," "Contemporary Foreign Literature", "Integration processes and Kazakh literature" with involvement of experts from Germany, Russia, France, Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey, India, Moldova, Azerbaijan, Slovakia, Czech Republic. The book explores new translations of Abai into Russian, Korean, Belarusian, German, summarizes the study of the Kazakh literature abroad.

In the anthology of Naomi Caffee, article on the Kazakh literature, the author highlights the linguistic and cultural diversity of modern Kazakhstan literature. Of special importance are online publications and social networks “Musaget”, online-magazine "Appolinary." Social networks (Live Journal, Facebook, Twitter, Vkontakte.ru, Stikhi.ru) provide a space for informal publications. Kazakh culture and art are thereby getting increasingly recognized in the world, expanding geographically. In Astana, Vlastimil Samek, Director of UN Public Information Department expressed his gratitude to the organizers for the invitation to the presentation, and to the heads and representatives of diplomatic missions and press attaché of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, Sweden, Finland, Pakistan, Iraq, China, Saudi Arabia, Poland, India, Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Serbia, England, Chile, the European Union in the Republic of Kazakhstan. In 2012, we marked the 20th anniversary of Kazakhstan's accession to the United Nations, and this year - the 20th year of the UN presence in Kazakhstan. Publishing of the Anthology in the United States makes the Kazakh literature more accessible to English-speaking readers and brings it closer to a global world.