With the arrival of Chingiz Aitmatov in journalism, Soviet journalism, including Kyrgyz journalism, reached a new qualitative height; many issues of Soviet life, which previously seemed off-limits for writing, found their coverage in central and republican press.
Ch. Aitmatov was born in 1928 in the village of Sheker in what is now the Kara-Buura district of the Talas region. He initially studied at the Dzhambul Veterinary Technical School, then at the Kyrgyz Agricultural Institute in the zootechnical faculty. Since 1956, he was a student at the Higher Literary Courses under the Union of Writers of the USSR. In 1959-1960, he worked as an editor for the magazine "Literary Kyrgyzstan," and then for five years as a special correspondent for the newspaper "Pravda" in Kyrgyzstan and the Central Asian republics. It was during these years that the journalistic talent of the great writer fully revealed itself. His reports and journalistic articles addressing various problems of the economic and social life of the peoples of the Central Asian republics, published in "Pravda," invariably sparked keen interest among readers and state officials due to their focus on relevant, pressing issues of labor and life, with open and realistic reflections on ways to resolve them.
Since then, the world-renowned people's writer of Kyrgyzstan, Ch. Aitmatov, has not parted ways with journalism. His journalistic articles, interviews, and various responses to republican and global events are constantly published in Kyrgyz, Russian, and foreign media. In 1978, his essays, articles, conversations, and interviews were published as a separate book by the "Kyrgyzstan" publishing house, comprising 26 printed sheets.
"A significant place in the collection," it is stated in the preface, "is devoted to Chingiz Aitmatov's speeches on pressing issues of socio-political life; the book contains materials that provide insight into the writer's understanding of the essence of the most important national economic problems related to the development of agriculture in the republic, field farming, land reclamation, animal husbandry, etc. These speeches mainly pertain to the period when the young writer was a professional journalist - a special correspondent for the newspaper 'Pravda.' Undoubtedly, the subsequent journalistic works of the writer would fill several such volumes."
Below is an excerpt from Ch. Aitmatov's autobiographical essay "On the Snows of Manas-ata":
"Our Sheker is a large, firmly rooted Kyrgyz aiyl. Over three hundred households. No matter when I arrive - here and there - new houses under new roofs. The households are increasing. The aiyl is growing. And it stands in a prominent place, as we say, at the 'head of the water' - in the foothills, right under the Talas ridge, just in the axis of the local great two-headed peak opposite the peak of Manas. From that towering mountain, Manas rode to survey the area around - to see if any enemies were coming!... (It is not hard to imagine what an enormous space Manas could survey from that height. The dimensions are truly epic. Thus, the people wanted to see their son and hero Manas in ancient times). Be that as it may, from there, from under the eternal snows of Manas, the turbulent and cold Kurkuray rushes into the valley, bringing water, and thus life to everything that lives on this land.
My childhood, all the military and post-war years were spent here, in this district, then called the Sheker Aiylsovet. This is what I remembered about the people of those days. People were just people - workers, peasants, activists, like those you would meet in any collective farm or state farm... The collective responsibility for the fate of the country became personal..."
In the republic, from the very first days of the establishment of periodicals in the Russian language, a large army of Russian-speaking journalists has worked and continues to work, contributing greatly to the development of the economy, culture, political and public life, and the social sphere of the mountainous region. One of them is Vladimir Svetlichny (1906-1997). He was born in 1906 in the Ryazan province of what is now the Lipetsk region of Russia.
V. Svetlichny's journalistic activity began in 1924 in the Ryazan province, leading him to professional journalism. He worked for the newspaper "Kazakhstan Truth," at All-Union and Kyrgyz radio, and then for many years at the editorial office of the newspaper "Soviet Kyrgyzstan" as a feature writer and head of the literature and arts department.
During his time in Kyrgyzstan, numerous essays and articles by V. Svetlichny were published in the newspaper "Soviet Kyrgyzstan" and the magazine "Literary Kyrgyzstan," including "The Day Was Not Easy," "The Gardens of Dolinka," "Kenes-Anarkhay," "Thoughts on the Pasture," "By the Path of the People," and others. In 1960, the book of essays and stories by the journalist "Road to the Desert" was published by Kirghosizdat, and in 1962, he released the book "Non-Fiction Stories" about the people of Kyrgyzstan as an editor-compiler. Continuing to work in the genres of essays, stories, feuilletons, literary criticism, and journalism, V. Svetlichny published a new collection of journalistic works "Grass of the Village" in 1965.
Poet, journalist, prose writer Abdykaly Moldokmatov (1935-1977) was born in the village of Saruu in the Jeti-Oguz district of the Issyk-Kul region. After graduating from the M. Gorky Literary Institute in Moscow in 1960, he worked as a literary staff member at the editorial office of the magazine "Ala-Too." In 1962, he became a special correspondent for the newspaper "Komsomolskaya Pravda" in Kyrgyzstan. In 1964, he was sent again for training in Moscow at the Higher Party School under the Central Committee of the CPSU. After graduating from the journalism department, A. Moldokmatov worked as the head of the department at the republican newspaper "Mugalimder Gazetasy."
From November 1967 until his death in 1977, he worked as a special correspondent for the central newspaper "Trud" in Kyrgyzstan.
Moldokmatov is the only Kyrgyz journalist who worked for a long time as a special correspondent for central newspapers, representing Kyrgyzstan in prestigious Moscow periodicals with multi-million print runs.
A. Moldokmatov, during his short years as a journalist (when he died, he had not yet turned fifty), published several books of poetry, stories, essays, and novellas in Kyrgyz and Russian in Frunze and Moscow publishing houses: "The Girl from the Mountains," "Young Years," "The Road," "Hello, Great Land!," "The Flower Washed by Dew," "Avalanche," and others. His journalistic works were published in almost all periodical press organs in the republic and Moscow. In the book "Writers of Soviet Kyrgyzstan," published in 1984, there are 14 titles of journalistic works by A. Moldokmatov in Kyrgyz and 40 titles in Russian. This is far from a complete list of his essays, articles, reports, and other genres of journalism published in the central and republican press, broadcast on television and radio.
