Tursynbek Kakishev was born in 1927 in village Danilovka, Tselinograd region. He graduated from Kazakh state university named after S.M. Kirov, journalism faculty in 1950. In 1951 he was sent to the Higher party school at the Central Committee Kazakhstan’s Communistic Party in interpreters school of Marxism-Leninism works. In 1960 he defended the master's thesis and was enlisted by the employee of Institute of literature and art named after M. O. Auezov. Since 1968 — the senior teacher of department of the Kazakh literature, then professor at the Kazakh state university named after S.M. Kirov. Member of CPSU.
T. Kakishev began the literary activity in 1947. He published about 300 journalese articles, in 1962 the monograph “Fruits of October”, in 1967 — monographic etudes “Era Portraits” and a sketch “Saken Seifullin”, in 1968 — a historic-literary sketch “A red falcon” was published. In “Young Guard” publishing house in series “the Life of Remarkable People” there was T. Kakishev's book “Saken Seifullin” in 1972. In 1971 the first part of research about the Kazakh literary critic — “A way of criticism” which second part — “Genre problems” was published in 1981.
