The State Library of the State Cultural Center of Turkmenistan hosted an event dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the Turkmen writer Seyitniyaz Atayev.

Seyitniyaz Atayev, international publicist, social activist, laureate of the State Prize of the Turkmen SSR named after Magtymguly, honorary elder of the people, left a priceless literary legacy glorifying the heroism and courage of Turkmen warriors. His works are included in school textbooks on literature, numerous articles have been written about him, and his stories are enjoyed by both students and adults.

The event was attended by well-known cultural figures, journalists, his relatives, and descendants, who gathered to honor the memory of the outstanding writer. 

In their speeches, the participants of the meeting highlighted the invaluable contribution of Seyitniyaz Atayev to the development of Turkmen literature, the relevance and popularity of his works. As a testament to the careful attitude towards the writer's works, a new bibliographic collection titled "Umanda kürekli, durmuşa ýürekli ýazyjy" was presented, prepared and released by specialists of the State Library in honor of the prose writer's 100th anniversary.

Seyitniyaz Atayev, a veteran of World War II, a recipient of the Order of the Red Banner, Alexander Nevsky and other orders, wrote stories and novels based on real stories.

"While being far from his homeland, on the front lines, he carried a volume of poems by Magtymguly Fragi", says Jennet Karanova, the writer’s daughter. Magtymguly's poems provided him with moral and spiritual support. He would read them to his fellow soldiers from the same region. Once, in battle, this book literally saved his life by shielding him from an enemy bullet. Today, a rare copy of Magtymguly's collection, bearing traces of "injury", is preserved in the State Museum of Turkmenistan.

Seyitniyaz Atayev participated in the compilation of Russian-Turkmen and Turkmen-Russian dictionaries and published a scientific work titled "Methods of Translating Idiomatic Expressions from Russian to Turkmen". Thanks to his translation work, Turkmen readers discovered the works of Russian and world literature. He translated Leo Tolstoy's novel "Resurrection", novels by Ivan Turgenev and stories by Ernest Hemingway, Erskine Caldwell, Indian and South African writers.

"My father came to translation work after the war when he was appointed as the director of the horse-breeding school," recalls Seyitniyaz Atayev's son, Bayram Atayev. "The rural students who came to the school didn't know the Russian language. So my father took it upon himself to translate a veterinary manual for them. Later, he worked as a literary translator for the republican radio committee and in the newspaper's editorial office".

In honor of this significant date, a display shelf with books authored by Seyitniyaz Atayev, such as "Maýagözel", "Kasam", "Gazap", "Göreş", "Kerwen geçer" and "Hindistan syýahat", has been set up in the library foyer. The event's guests showed great interest in the exhibition and shared their impressions of the works they had read.