Gennadiy Nikolaevich Aygi ( rus, Генна́дий Никола́евич Айги́, p=ɡʲɪˈnadʲɪj nʲɪkɐˈlajɪvʲɪtɕ ɐjˈɡʲi, a=Gyennadiy Nikolayevich Aygi.ru.vorb.oga, cv, Геннадий Николаевич Айхи; 21 August 1934 in Schaymurzino,
Batyrevsky District – 21 February 2006 in
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...
) was a
Chuvash poet and a translator. His poetry is written both in
Chuvash and in
Russian
Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including:
*Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries
*Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...
.
He was born in the village of Shaimurzino (Çĕnyal),
Chuvashia (
USSR
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
), moved to Moscow in 1953 and stayed there for the rest of his life. Aygi started writing poetry in the
Chuvash language
Chuvash ( , ; , , ) is a Turkic language spoken in European Russia, primarily in the Chuvash Republic and adjacent areas. It is the only surviving member of the Oghur branch of Turkic languages, one of the two principal branches of the Tur ...
in 1958.
Among the recognitions he has won are the
Andrey Bely
Boris Nikolaevich Bugaev ( rus, Бори́с Никола́евич Буга́ев, p=bɐˈrʲis nʲɪkɐˈlajɪvʲɪtɕ bʊˈɡajɪf, a=Boris Nikolayevich Bugayev.ru.vorb.oga), better known by the pen name Andrei Bely or Biely ( rus, Андр ...
Prize (1987), the
Pasternak Prize (2000, the first to be awarded this), the Prize of the French Academy (1972), the
Petrarch Prize
Petrarca-Preis was a European literary and translation award named after the Italian Renaissance poet Francesco Petrarca or Petrarch. Founded in 1975 by German art historian and publisher Hubert Burda, it was primarily designed for contemporary ...
(1993), the Golden Wreath of the
Struga Poetry Evenings
Struga Poetry Evenings (SPE) ( mk, Струшки вечери на поезијата, СВП; tr. ''Struški večeri na poezijata'', ''SVP'') is an international poetry festival held annually in Struga, North Macedonia. During the several de ...
in 1994 and the Jan Smrek Prize (Bratislava, Slovakia).
In 2003 Aygi participated in th
"international literature festival berlin".
Sofia Gubaidulina set several of his poems to music in her cycle ''Jetzt immer Schnee'' ("Now always snow").
His son
Aleksey Aygi is a
composer.
References
*
External links
Month-long tribute to Aygi essay and collection of links
Interview with Aygi's friend and translator Peter Franceat New Directions
Folk poets of Chuvashia
Russian male poets
Chuvash-language poets
1934 births
2006 deaths
Chuvash writers
Struga Poetry Evenings Golden Wreath laureates
20th-century Russian poets
People from Batyrevsky District
20th-century Russian male writers
Maxim Gorky Literature Institute alumni
{{Russia-poet-stub