CHILDREN’S LITERATURE OF KAZAKHSTAN IN THE 1950S: NAVIGATING CHALLENGES AND OVERCOMING OBSTACLES

Abstract

This study focuses on children’s literature in the Kazakh SSR during the 1950s. The contradictions of the period, including inconsistent language policies and the ideological attitudes of the Cold War, were reflected in the book publishing process. Key trends during this time include a shortage of children’s writers, a focus on publishing Russian-language works, and the unsatisfactory state of book publishing and printing. Drawing on archival documents, references, and reports from the Ministry of Education of Kazakhstan, the Central Committee of the LKSM of the Republic, the Union of Soviet Writers of Kazakhstan, party bodies, and book publishing houses, this study traces the criteria for selecting authors, themes, and content. Efforts were aimed at overcoming the ’lag’ in children’s literature, but discrepancies in the volume of books published by Kazakh and Russian-speaking writers reveal that, despite government appeals and directives, the publishing process was irregular and influenced by changing external circumstances. Despite censorship and control, this period saw the emergence of works by Sapargali Begalin, Mikhail Zverev, Mukan Imanzhanov, Berdibek Sokpakbayev, A. Titov, and Abu Sarsenbayev, which have become classics of Kazakhstani children’s literature.

Keywords: Kazakh children’s literature, national literature, ideology, children’s writers, book publishing, communist education