Publications and Samples of Translations
Тушуб бошимға дўстлар доғи фарзанд,
Кўзумга ончунон тор ўлди Тошканд.
Бор эрди бир қизим оти Малоҳат,
Эди меҳрин ипи жонимға пайванд.
Жаҳондин қилди риҳлат тўрт ёшида,
Йўқ эрди асрида бир анга монанд.
Хусусан, бор эди бир дона ўғлум,
Оти Нисбатхон эрди, сўзлари қанд.
Кириб эрдики тўртдин бешга ногоҳ,
Қизамуғ дарди бирла бўлди дардманд.
Давосин билмадилар дардини ҳеч.
Табибларни олиб келдимки ҳар чанд.
Ётиб ёстуқда ўн бир кун гапурмай,
Бу ҳам кетти жаҳондин, эй хирадманд.
Бу икки булбулимдин айрилиб ман,
Юрай қандоғ жаҳон боғидахурсанд...
Хислат, 1911
This excerpted poetry translation is taken from my the anthology Tulips in Bloom, forthcoming in 2025. It also appears in the English version of the Uzbek documentary film Armon (2023)
I, dear friends, have known the loss of a child,
To my eyes, the streets of Tashkent are defiled.
I had a daughter, her name Malohat,
Tied to my soul with a thread never cut.
She departed this world at the age of four,
Not another has matched her in all of lore.
I had just one son after God took her,
His name was Nisbatkhon, his words sugar.
He had only just turned from four to five,
When the pain of that disease, the measles, arrived.
They knew of no cure for that foul rot,
No matter how many doctors to his bedside I brought.
He lay on his pillow, silent for eleven days,
And departed this world, he worthy of praise.
From my two nightingales forever separated,
How can I go on, my heart so vacated?...
Khislat, 1911
Ажаб Мажнун эрурман, дашт ила саҳрога сиғмамдур,
Дилим дарёи нурдир, мавж уриб дунёга сиғмамдур.
Шариат ҳам, тариқат ҳам, ҳақиқат мендадир мавжуд,
Чу султони азалдурман, ки аршу аълога сиғмамдур.
Бобораҳим Машраб
Истаганлар бизни саҳрои балодан истангиз,
Водийи ҳижрон ила дашти фанодан истангиз
Алишер Навоий
I translated these two poems of Mashrab and Navoiy for my 2019 translation of Isajon Sulton’s The Eternal Wanderer
I am that wanderer Majnun, whose love no desert can contain,
My heart – a sea of light, whose mighty waves no barrier restrains.
God’s law, His knowledge, and His truth are found in me because
I am an eternal sultan for whom no palace is maintained
Boborahim Mashrab
Find us, seekers, among yellow sands of misfortune,
In this transient steppe, in this valley of orphans.
Alisher Navoiy
And this is the dark humor of a friend of mine, Muruvvat G‘afurjon
1941-yil
Poyingga tiz cho'kib sevgilim
Men ham dil roz aytaman dedim.
Jang maydoni chorladi seni,
Va'da berding, qaytaman deding.
Seni kutar qirg'inbarot jang,
Men qanday jim o'ltiraman-a?
Ketar chog'ing dedim chimrilib:
Agar o'lsang o'ldiramana?!
Poyingga tiz cho'kay sevgilim,
Bitdim tunu kunlar ora xat.
Menga omon bo'lsang bas edi,
Kelmasa bas edi qoraxat.
Qaytding...
Faqat oyoqlaring yo'q
Meni yengdi, qayg'ular yengdi.
Jilmaygancha deding poyingda
Bir umr tiz cho'kaman endi...
Muruvvat G‘afurjon
1941
Down at your feet, my love, I kneeled.
You promised to return from your grim mission.
Desiring you is my battlefield.
I offer on my knees my amorous submission.
I asked you, "How can I remain here silent
As you are leaving for your gory hecatomb?"
And as you closed the door, I looked on without smiling:
"If you die there, don't bother coming home,
I'll kill you."
"My love, just let me kneel once more down at your feet,"
I prayed for you, consumed by ardent fire.
To see once more your smile, to hear your heart still beat,
To not receive that fateful news, it was my one desire.
You returned...
But those beloved feet you left behind.
The enemy subdued, alas! fate conquered me
You told me, smiling, at my feet reclined
"Now, for a lifetime, I'll be on my knee."
Muruvvat G‘afurjon
Links to other translations and excerpts
Night and Day. Boston: Academic Studies Press, 2019.
The Eternal Wanderer. Costa Mesa, CA: Mazda Publishers, 2019.
Excerpt of “Abdulla Qahhor’s Tales from the Past.” SICE Blog. Austrian Academy of Sciences, 2022.
Tulips in Bloom. Springer Nature, 2025.
Literary and Translation Criticism
“Parody of Past and Present in Chapaev and the Void.” Companion to Victor Pelevin. Ed. by Sofya Khagi. Boston: Academic Studies Press, 2022. 53-74.
Interview with Filip Noubel. “Abdulla Qahhor: A Master of the Uzbek Short Story.” Asymptote. June 29, 2022.
“Uzbekistan’s Cancelled Silk Road Literary Festival Reveals Leftover Karimov Mindset.” Global Voices. August 17, 2022.
«Введение к Чулпану и его роман «Ночь и день». Ilmiy xabarnoma: Seriya: Gumanitar tadqiqotlar, Translated by Zukhra Kasymova, vol. 77, no. 1, 2024, 67-94.
“The Socialist Realist Novel on the Margins: The Soviet Central Asian Republics.” The Oxford Handbook of Global Realisms. Ed. by Margarita Vaysman and Katherine Bowers. Oxford University Press, 2024.