Sevinj Nurugizi: Azerbaijan ⋆ Author

Born in Baku, Azerbaijan in 1964, Sevinj Nuruguzi has earned her identity as one of the most prominent children's authors in Azerbaijan. Her writing career began relatively late in her adulthood, her first book, Çərpələng [Kite], being published in 2002, and since then she has published close to fifty children's texts in Azerbaijani. A member of both the Azerbaijani Journalists' Union and the Azerbaijani Writer's Union, Nuruguzi takes her writing career seriously, and she works to ground her young readers in Azerbaijani experience through the magic realism of her stories. She garners trust in her readers by paying close attention to detail and reflecting their interests and everyday lives respectfully and accurately.

Nuruguzi is dedicated to the role of literature in childhood development, and her work provides relatable yet whimsical stories approachable to readers at various stages of development. She is masterful in her ability to create relatable protagonists, and her young readers can easily relate to the heroes in her stories. Often implementing themes of friendship, loyalty, and the magic of childhood, Nuruguzi develops deep and meaningful relationships with her child readers and manages to spread positive messages without an air of didacticism. Not only does she relate to children through her literature, but she also makes connections with young readers in her everyday life, spending time discussing books in children's libraries and actively participating in children's book festivals. Children's libraries all over the country feature Nuruguzi's poetry, picturebooks, and children's novels, and two of her plays, Revenge and Dolls, have been staged by the State Drama Theatre of Agdam and the State Puppet Theater of Salyan. She also tells stories on her radio program, "Chokhibilmish," which is a well-loved program among Azerbaijani children. Nuruguzi is passionate about developing positive worldviews in her child readers, and she does so by creating magical narratives embedded in the everyday experiences of Azerbaijani children. Over the course of her prolific twelve-year career, Nuruguzi has earned several awards and distinctions. In 2002, the year she began publishing children's literature, she won the Laureate of Tofig Mahmudov Prize for the Azerbaijani Writers' Union Best Work For Children, and she has recently won the Association of New Writers and Artists' National Prize on Culture for Bapbalaca əlifba [Tiny Alphabet]. Her works have also been translated into Russian and English.