Omor Sooronov was not only a poet and writer but also a literary scholar, critic, and a member of the Union of Writers of Kyrgyzstan. For his contributions, he was awarded the State Prize of the Kyrgyz Republic in the field of science and technology, as well as the Order of "Manas" of the III degree. In addition, he held the title of honorary professor at the Kyrgyz National University named after Jusup Balasagyn.
Photo from the archive. Omor Sooronov
He was born on February 28, 1940, in the village of Gologon, located in the Bazar-Korgon district. In 1967, he graduated with honors from the Faculty of Philology of the Kyrgyz State University and subsequently began his career at the Jalal-Abad Pedagogical College named after A. S. Pushkin.
From 1969, his professional activities were associated with the Institute of Language and Literature of the Academy of Sciences of Kyrgyzstan, where he worked until 1979, when he headed the fiction literature editorial office at the "Kyrgyzstan" publishing house, holding this position until 1981.
From 1992 to 1995, Omor Sooronov taught at the Kyrgyz State Pedagogical University named after I. Arabayev and also worked as a senior researcher at KNAU.
Omor Sooronov's literary career began with poetry: his works started to be published in 1957. His first poetry collection, titled "Tooloromdun zynaty," was published in 1971. In total, he published eight poetry collections, including "Eki togolok" (1993), aimed at a youth audience. His poem "Alykul" earned him his first award and recognition.
Omor Sooronov made significant contributions to literary studies and literary criticism, researching and publishing forgotten works of Kyrgyz authors, translating them from Arabic and Latin scripts into modern Kyrgyz. Among his publications are "Majmu at-tavarikh" (late 15th century), "Sanat digarasttar" by Moldu Niyaz, and "Kazaldar" by Moldu Kilych.
He also studied the manuscripts of the epic "Manas" by Togolok Moldo and prepared a monograph on the Manas trilogy. His research covered the works of Mukai Elebaev, and he published a documentary story titled "Mukai."
Sooronov also became one of the authors of the two-volume "History of Kyrgyz Soviet Literature" (1987, 1990) and the seven-volume "History of Kyrgyz Literature" (2004, 2005), as well as the major work "Anthology of Pedagogical Thought of the Kyrgyz SSR," published in Moscow in 1988.
He published over four hundred articles in various newspapers, magazines, and encyclopedias. In 2009, his two-volume work "Word on Manuscripts" was released by the "Turar" publishing house.
For his achievements in science and culture, Omor Sooronov was awarded the title of "Honored Worker of Culture of the Kyrgyz Republic," the State Prize in the field of science and technology, and the Order of "Manas" of the III degree. His name also appeared on the lists of distinguished educators and laureates of the Mukai Elebaev Literary Prize.
