Ishmurat, Riza

(also Ish-muratov). Born Nov. 1, 1903, in the village of Badriash, present-day Ianaul Raion, Bashkir ASSR. Soviet Tatar playwright and public figure. Honored Art Worker of the Tatar ASSR (1953). Member of the CPSU since 1927. Son of a peasant. Fought in the Great Patriotic War (1941–45).

After graduating from a dramatic technicum in 1926, Ish-murat was a director in the Tatar Academic Theater. In 1926 he wrote his first comedies, In the Realm of Sleep and Good-for-Nothing Philosopher. Notable among his many dramatic works are the play To Meet the Storm (1952) about Lenin’s student days and the tragedy Immortal Song about Musa Dzhalil’ (1956). He also translated D. I. Fonvizin’s The Minor into Tatar. Ishmurat has been awarded four orders.