Kogonia, Iua Abasovich

Born Oct. 28 (Nov. 10), 1903, in the village of Kutol, Ochamchira Raion; died June 15, 1928, in Sukhumi. Soviet Abkhazian poet. Son of a peasant.

Kogonia’s works were first published in 1920. The narrative poems Zoskhan Achba and the Sons of Beslan Zhanaa (1924), Navei and Mzauch, Khmydzh, the Hunter, and Abataa Beslan are Kogonia’s best works and reflect his profound knowledge of life. In his lyrical verses Kogonia extols Abkhazian nature, labor, and the new relations that exist between Soviet people. Kogonia’s imagery derives from the poetics of folklore.