Kavi Najmi is a famous Tatar writer, poet and translator. In the late 30s he became a victim of political repression. For three years he was in camps, where he was tortured and humiliated. He gained wide popularity after the release of the historical novel "Spring Winds".
Biography: early years
Kavi Gibyatovich Nadzhmi (real name - Nezhmetdinov) was born on December 2, 1901 in the village of Krasny Ostrov, not far from Nizhny Novgorod. He grew up in a poor peasant family. At the age of 12, he went to work on a farm, where he did "dirty work": he cleaned cattle pens, transported manure on carts to the fields. At the same time, he began to write poetry.
Three years later, Kavi got a job at a soap factory located in Aktyubinsk. There he packed the finished product. In parallel, he studied at the Russian-Tatar school, which he graduated in 1917.
In the same year, Kavi lost his parents. The family also had another son, Rashid. He is 11 years younger than Kawi. After the death of his parents, he was raised by distant relatives, and by that time Kavi was already independent. In 1917, he got a job as a teacher at a local elementary school.
Two years later, Kavi joined the ranks of the Red Army. In 1920 he took part in the battles to destroy the remnants of Makhno's gangs in Ukraine. Two years later, Kavi graduated from the Higher Military Pedagogical School. At the same time, he took his younger brother Rashid to him, whom his relatives in the hungry year of 1921 placed in a boarding school.
Career
Kawi started writing in 1919. His first works were not very successful. In 1928, Kavi personally met Maxim Gorky. After this meeting, he published a number of books, including: "Coastal Fires", "First Spring", "Farida". The works were a success with readers and critics.
At the same time, Kavi was engaged in translations. Thus, he translated into the Tatar language a number of works by Alexander Pushkin, Leo Tolstoy, Maxim Gorky, Ivan Krylov.
In 1934, Najmi became one of the youngest chairmen of the Writers' Union of the TASSR, thereby making himself a lot of envious people. Soon, Kavi received a new apartment, which soon began to resemble a "writing club": famous Tatar writers often stayed in it.
In 1937, the writer was arrested on a denunciation as a nationalist. Six months later, his wife was also taken away. They had to endure three years of torture.
During the war years, Kavi worked on the radio. He also did not give up writing. So, Najmi published the book "Tatars - Heroes of War".
In 1948, Kawi wrote the historical novel Spring Winds, which won the Stalin Prize. Soon the envious people fabricated another denunciation against Najmi. Proceedings began. Kavi did not live to see the court verdict.
Personal life
Kavi Najmi was married to Sarvar Adgamova. They met in the early 1920s in Kazan at one of the literary evenings. Sarvar translated works of famous writers into the Tatar language. In 1927, the couple had their only son, who was given the name Tansyk.
The writer died in 1957. He is buried in one of the cemeteries of Kazan.
