Passion or Profession: Writer

Period: 1928–

Aytmatov is a well-known short-story writer and novelist whose works include Farewell, Gulsary! (Proshchay, Gulsary!, 1967), The White Ship (Bely parokhod, 1970), and The Day Lasts More Than a Hundred Years (I dolshe veka dlitsya den, 1980). He also cowrote the acclaimed 1973 play The Ascent of Mt. Fuji (Voskhozhdenie na Fudziiamu), which analyzes the regime of Joseph Stalin. Aytmatov's writings often explore the tension between modernity and tradition. Most of his works were published in Russian, though he has also sought to increase the use of the Kyrgyz language.