Poet and aitys performer Nadezhda Lushnikova has died at the age of 86. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.
The Writers' Union of Kazakhstan expressed condolences to her family and recalled the poet's rich creative legacy.
Nadezhda Lushnikova was born on November 22, 1940, in the village of Shamalgan, Kaskelen district, Almaty region. She was raised in a Kazakh environment and received her education in the Kazakh language.
In 1961, she graduated from the M. Mametova Pedagogical College in Kyzylorda, and in 1969 from the Kazakh department of the philology faculty at the Abai Kazakh Pedagogical Institute. She wrote poetry and mastered the art of improvisation.
In 1963, Lushnikova participated in the regional aitys in Kyzylorda and became a prize-winner. Her aitys with Kaldybek Alikulov from Shymkent was filmed (the film "Aitys", directed by Turar Duisebaev). She took part in district and regional aitys competitions, where she won numerous victories over her opponents.
From 1963 to 1985, she worked as a literary staff member at a newspaper, an editor at a publishing house, and a school teacher. From 1985, she served as director of the U. Karibaev Museum in the Zhambyl district of Almaty region.
The poet's first poems were published in 1958 in the Kyzylorda regional newspaper "Lenin zholy". Nadezhda Lushnikova's poetry collections were published in two separate editions: "Elim menin" in 1962 and "Konil khoshy" in 1970. For the latter collection, she was awarded the Komsomol Prize of Kazakhstan.
Earlier, "Kursiv" reported that well-known Kazakhstani photojournalist Yuri Zelmanovich Bekker died suddenly at the age of 68.