Suleyman Rustam Biography

Suleyman Rustam was a 20th century poet, playwright and public figure of Soviet Azerbaijan. Throughout his lifetime, he was recognized with various awards and prizes for his literary accomplishments, primarily from Azerbaijani organizations. Aside from his poetic works, Rustam was a foremost journalist and edited a literary newspaper for many years. He was also a prolific translator, and translated works of great Russian writers, such as A.S. Pushkin, I.A. Krylov, A.S. Griboyedov, M.Y. Lermontov and N.A. Nekrasov into Azerbaijani. His own works have been widely translated into Russian as well as other world languages. Aside from writing, he was ensconced in academia, working at the Moscow State University. He also put his talents to use in politics, serving various functions as a noteworthy public figure in Azerbaijan. His poetry touches on various themes, though it is generally imbued with romantic aesthetics. He also regularly wrote patriotic poems, which helped solidify his reputation as a key figure of Azerbaijani culture and patriotism. He used both syllable and aruz meter schemes in his writing, the latter a characteristic of Azerbaijani poetics