Murat Salikhovich Paranuk

Born May 5, 1912, in the aul (village) of Pchegatlukai, in what is now Teuchezh Raion, Adygei Autonomous Oblast; died July 4, 1970, in Maikop. Soviet Adygeian poet. Member of the CPSU from 1940. Attended the Krasnodar Pedagogical Institute (1930–33). Took part in the Great Patriotic War of 1941–45.

Paranuk was first published in 1931. His first Adygeian narrative poem, Uraza (1931), is antireligious. The narrative poem Be Vigilant (1934) reflects the building of collective-farm life. Paranuk created lively portraits of his contemporaries in the collections Verses (1940), Verses and Poems (1950), The Song of the Happy Ones (1955), The Voice of the Heart (1961), Peaceful Morning (1966), and Thoughts (1968). Many of his poems have become folk songs. Paranuk also wrote books for children and translated works by A. S. Pushkin, N. A. Nekrasov, and K. Khetagurov into Adygeian.