Mosquito - Hardcover

by Akhmet Baitursynov (Author), Jake Zawlacki (Translator)

Published in 1911, and then expanded and republished in 1922, Mosquito consists of 36 poems ranging in lengths from six lines to over one hundred and fifty. It contains Akhmet Baitursynov's most overtly political poems, aimed at the yet-to-exist Kazakh nation: to his people, to his kin, and to the many future sons and daughters of Kazakhstan. His intentions with the collection are clear, as we see in the opening lines of the poem "Author's Note" to buzz around the sleeping Kazakh populace in hopes of awakening them with a rallying cry.

Author Biography

Akhmet Baitursynov (1872-1937) was a highly influential Kazakh writer, educator, poet, linguist, and leading member of the Kazakh nationalist group Alash Orda. Today, he is recognized as one of the intellectual forefathers of modern Kazakhstan, and bears the honorific "The Educator."

Jake Zawlacki is a writer, translator, and scholar. He is also a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer from Mongolia, a Fulbright Alumnus to the Kyrgyz Republic, and a graduate of Stanford University's Russian, Eastern European and Eurasian Studies Program. He teaches writing at the University of San Diego.