Ardakh Nurgaz has long been known to true aficionados of serious literature. His wonderful poems have been published far beyond the borders of Kazakhstan and are often quoted, reprinted and studied in Russia, China, Europe and the United States. He is known, first of all, as the torch bearer of the modernist legacy in Kazakh poetry. Some even call him the literary heir of Magzhan Zhumabayev, a similarly unique and uncompromising author who was tortured and executed during the communist regime.

In my opinion, Ardakh’s poetic voice combines the chivalrous tone of the traditional poetry of the Great Steppe with the experimental motives of global contemporary poetry, complete with all of the latter’s painful attempts to break through to an accessible and honest language. However, it should also be noted that the centuries-old Chinese poetic tradition is also important for the poetics of Nurgaz.

I am ready to agree with those European literary critics who believe, based on the few available translations of Nurgaz’s poems, that the seed of emerging Kazakh poetry is hidden in his texts, that he lays the foundation for the next phase of Kazakh literature.

Ardakh’s contribution to Kazakh literature is not limited to his own poetry. Today, the most interesting young authors honor Ardakh as their Teacher for a reason. He is the poet who helped them discover European and North American modernists: thanks to his translations, T.S. Eliot and Ezra Pound can now be read in the magnificent Kazakh language.