Toushan Esenova

Born Nov. 10 (23), 1915, in the aul (village) of Iuzbashi, now the area under the jurisdiction of the Kirov rural soviet, Kaakhka Raion, Ashkhabad Oblast, Turkmen SSR. Soviet Turkmen poet and dramatist. Honored Poet of the Turkmen SSR (1939); People’s Writer of the Turkmen SSR (1974). Member of the CPSU since 1949.

Esenova attended the Ashkhabad Pedagogical Institute from 1937 to 1939. She was first published in 1928. Her play Shemshat (1938; Russian translation under the title The Millionaire’s Daughter, 1941), which deals with kolkhoz construction, has been staged in many of the country’s theaters. Esenova’s poetry exhibits a marked folk influence; her collections include To the Women of the East (1951; Russian translation, 1955), whose theme is the struggle for peace; The Legend of Lenin and of the Shepherd’s Daughter (1958; Russian translation, 1959); and Red Flowers (1962). Esenova’s play By Your Love was staged in the Turkmen Drama Theater in 1969.

Esenova is also the author of a number of books, literary sketches, and publicist articles. Her works have been translated into other languages of the USSR.

Esenova has been awarded three orders and various medals.