Επιμέλεια: Εύα Πετροπούλου Λιανού
Dear poet! Please tell us about your childhood. I was born on July 19, 1960, in Baku, the capital of Soviet Azerbaijan, to a Turkic family of an Azerbaijani father and a Tatar mother. Russian was spoken because it was the lingua franca of the USSR. I spent part of my childhood in the Penza region with my grandparents, who had moved there from the siege of St. Petersburg during World War II. Many of my mother’s relatives died of starvation during the Nazi siege of that city. Among her relatives were renowned musicians of international renown, such as Ravil Martynov, founder and chief conductor of the St. Petersburg State Symphony Orchestra. My father’s mother, my grandmother, Mrs. Sarfinaz, was descended from a Khan clan. Her father, Khan Tagi, had several sons, but after the rise of Soviet power, they were executed. My grandmother survived only because she was married by then, bore her husband’s surname, and lived elsewhere. My father, Alikhas, was a staunch communist and a power engineer by training.
What inspired you to become a writer? The May Day demonstration of 1968. My father took me to a large seaside square. It was spring, with a bright blue sky and an orchestra playing festive marches. This festive atmosphere inspired my first poems.
Who is responsible for a child’s future: parents or the environment? The child’s parents, the environment, their personal talents, and their unique destiny. I was 15 years old when a stray shot from a neighbor’s gun nearly killed me. I survived and became a poet.
I also graduated from the oldest mining university in Europe, the Saint Petersburg Mining University (founded in 1773), and became a mining engineer and surveyor (a navigator of underground and surface geodetic work). I worked in this specialty in the Caucasus Mountains, the Siberian taiga, and the Arctic tundra of the Far North. I became an explorer, a member of the Russian National Geographical Society (founded in 1845), and the author of fiction and scientific books in seven languages, published in Azerbaijan, Canada, China, Egypt, India, Mexico, Russia, Serbia, Turkey, and the United States.
Wars are everywhere on our planet. Do you think we live in a favorable environment? What should we teach future generations? I don’t think we live in a favorable environment, but the fact that we’re still alive is a great blessing. Future generations must learn to live in mutual understanding and love; humanity has no other path.
Share your opinion on literature.
World literature is as diverse as the peoples inhabiting the planet.
Nevertheless, it is possible to find common ground with all competent writers, because the universal spiritual and cultural values of all peoples are the same.
About e-books. E-books have a right to exist as a source of knowledge and cultural values alongside paper books. The main thing is that people love to read.
What is your opinion of the new generation? Do we have new talents? Of course we do. I am the father of four children: two sons and two daughters. They are all talented in various ways. I am convinced that all children are talented, and it is the job of parents and teachers to help them discover their talents.
Many poets and writers use AI to write poems and even books. What is your opinion on this? I am certain that AI was created to help people, but not to replace their creativity with electronic software. A program can simulate human emotions, but it cannot truly sense them.
What are your plans for the future? I am the author of 108 books of poetry and prose for adults and children, and I plan to continue my creative work.
A quote from your book that would inspire a young reader to read your book. “To fly, you need wings. If you’re a poet, you’ll definitely fly.”
Biography: I was born in 1960 and raised in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. My mother was in Leningrad (St. Petersburg) during World War II. In 2024, in Baku, the Governor of St. Petersburg, Alexander Beglov, personally presented my mother with a medal commemorating the 80th anniversary of the lifting of the siege of the city on the Neva. In 1978, I went to study in the city of my mother’s youth and saw the house where my grandfather once lived. The house is located near the Mariinsky Theater on the same street where the poet Alexander Blok lived.
Five years before the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1986, I got married and moved to Eastern Siberia. At that time, I couldn’t have known that my homeland, Azerbaijan, and Russia would soon become two independent states. Now I am a Russian citizen, but I have a residence permit in Azerbaijan, as I was born and graduated from school there.
I have been writing poetry since May 2, 1968, when I was just over 7.5 years old. First publication in the republican newspaper – autumn 1976. First book – 1995. Today, I, Eldar Akhadov, am the author and translator of 105 books of poetry, prose, and literary criticism, published in Azerbaijani, English, Spanish, Italian, Chinese, Russian, and Serbian in Azerbaijan, China, Canada, Egypt, India, Mexico, Russia, Serbia, Turkey, and the United States. I am the Head of the Coordinating Council of WOW – the World Organization of Writers, Co-Chair of the Literary Council of the Assembly of the Peoples of the World, an Honorary Member of the Writers’ Union of Azerbaijan, and a member of the Academy of Literature, Art, Culture, and Social Sciences of Uzbekistan. I am also a member of the Russian branch of the international PEN Club, a board member of the Krasnoyarsk regional branch of the Union of Writers of Russia, and the Chairman of the Toponymic Commission of the Krasnoyarsk branch of the Russian Geographical Society. Information about me is contained in the Great Russian Encyclopedia, as well as in Wikipedia in Russian, Azerbaijani, and other languages. My books are kept in the Library of Congress, the British Library, the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, the National Library of Azerbaijan and all major libraries in Russia.
