Jusup Mamai (born 1918) — the largest representative of the art of akyns and manaschy abroad, a storyteller-writer. He was born in the village of Merkech in the Kyrgyz Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China. Until 1959, he worked as a teacher, then began to study and narrate the epic.
Jusup Mamai personally records his version of the great epic. 18 volumes of his epic texts have been published, including: "Manas," "Semetei," "Seitek," "Kenenim," "Seyitim," "Asylbacha-Bekbacha," "Sombilek," "Chigitai."
The manaschy has visited Kyrgyzstan multiple times, collaborating with both storytellers and researchers of the epic.
