P rominent t ajik f igures of the

Akbarov, Yusuf
Tajik literary critic Yusuf Akbarov, also referred to as Yusufi
Akbarzoda, was born into a farming family in the village of Mazori
Sharif of Panjakent, Sughd, on May 16, 1938. He completed his early

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Iraj Bashiri

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education in Mazori Sharif and the village of Ghusar. He joined the

CPSU in 1965 and became a member of the Union of Writers of the
Soviet Union 1975.
Akbarov graduated from the Faculty of History and Philology of
Dushanbe Pedagogical Institute in 1961, specializing in language, lit-
erature, and history. In the same year, he entered the Rudaki Language
and Literature Institute of the Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan as a
Lecturer. This was followed in 1963 by a year of service in the military.
From 1964 to 1966, he was a senior Lecturer at the same institute. From
1966 to 1968, he was a research scholar at the Grouch Institute of
World Literature in Moscow. From 1991 to the present, he has been a
Scientific Worker for the Republican Committee for Terminology at the
Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan. In 1999, he was appointed the
Associate Director of the Ismo'il Somoni Free Faculty.
Akbarov's creative period dates to his school days. His first essays
were published in Haqiqati Leninabad. In 1973, he successfully de-
fended his thesis, Dostoni Liriki dar Nazmi Imruzai Tojik (Lyrical
Stories in Contemporary Tajik Verse).
Akbarov's contributions include An'ana va Navovari (Tradition and
Modernism, Dushanbe, 1975); Talabi Hayot va Qismati Adabiyot (Life's
Demands and the Lot of Literature, Dushanbe, 1980); She'ri Ihsos va
Tafakkur (The Poetry of Feeling and Thought, Dushanbe, 1985);
Maktabi Shoiri Ustod Lohuti (The Poetic School of Ustod Lahuti,
Dushanbe, 1987); Mehri Vatan (Love of Country, Dushanbe, 1989); and
Justujuhoi Ijodi va Akhloqi (Creative and Ethical Investigations,
Dushanbe, 1990).
Akbarov has traveled to Afghanistan and Russia. He received the
medal of Renown Service in 1999.