Poet, translator, literary scholar V. Shapovalov was born on October 28, 1947, in Frunze in a family of civil servants. In 1966, he graduated from Secondary School No. 37 in Frunze, and in 1971— from the Philological Faculty of K. State University. Since 1975, he has been a research intern, and from 1976 to 1979— a postgraduate student at the Department of Theory and History of Russian Literature at K. State University named after the 50th anniversary of the USSR. He is a Candidate of Philological Sciences (1981).He began his career in 1971 as a teacher at the Przhevalsky Pedagogical Institute. Since 1979, he has worked as a teacher, senior lecturer, and since 1982— as an associate professor at the Department of Theory and History of Russian Literature at K. State University named after the 50th anniversary of the USSR.
He has been publishing since 1964. His first poetry collection "Dome of the Sky" was published in 1976. As a literary scholar, he conducts research in the field of mutual influence of Kyrgyz and Russian Soviet literature. In 1986, his monograph "Kyrgyz Poetic Culture and Translation Problems" was published. He has translated works of Kyrgyz poets A. Tokombaev, T. Umetaliev, S. Eraliyev, A. Toktomushev, T. Shamsiyev, S. Abdykadyrova, A. Osmonov, and others into Russian.
He has been a member of the Union of Soviet Writers since 1984.
He has been awarded Honorary Certificates from the Central Committee of the Komsomol of the USSR and the Central Committee of the Komsomol of Kyrgyzstan.
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
In Russian:
Dome of the Sky: Poems. —Frunze: Kyrgyzstan, 1976. —68 pages.
Nomadism: Poems and Poems. —Frunze: Kyrgyzstan, 1979. —52 pages.
Old Primer. —Moscow: Children's Literature, 1980. —95 pages.
The Grasses Rise: Poems, Lyrics. —Frunze: Kyrgyzstan, 1982. —88 pages.
Kyrgyz Poetic Culture and Translation Problems. —Frunze: Kyrgyzstan, 1986. —112 pages.
Farewell to the Crane: Lyrics, Poems. —Frunze: Mektep, 1987. —72 pages.
TRANSLATIONS
Eraliyev S. Our Land is Beautiful: Poems. —Frunze: Mektep, 1984. —14 pages.
Spring Has Come: Poems, Stories. —Frunze: Mektep, 1985. —22 pages.