Berdi Kerbabayev

Kerbabayev was born on 3 March 1894, in the family of a farmer. He studied at the village school (mekdep) till 1917, then continued his studies at Bukhara Madrasa. He participated in the Basmachi Movement (the troop of Eziz-khan Chapyk). In May, 1919 he turned to the RRKKA. During the Civil War served as the worker of the political department of the Transcaspian Front. In 1919 – 1924 worked as the instructor of the district and the head of the rural department of the national education. In 1927 – 1928 studied at the Leningrad Orientalism Institute. In 1924 – 1934 worked as the editor of "Turkmenistan" newspaper and "Tokmak" magazine. In 1934-1936 was the head of science administration of the Turkmen SSR. In 1942 – 1950 he was the head of Turkmen SSR Union of Writers, later being elected as the deputy of Supreme Soviet of the Turkmen SSR. He was also the member of the Committee on Stalin Prize.

He had two sons  – Bayram and Baky.

• Bayram (April 19, 1944 – August 8, 2020) is the Histology Department Chairman at the Turkmen State Medical University.
• Baky (1921–2009), was the director of the Central Botanical Garden under the Academy of Sciences of the Turkmen SSR. He was married to Eugenia Annakulievna Artykova (1926–1962). They had a daughter, Aylar.
• Aylar is an specialist in literature, and Candidate of Sciences in (Philology). She lives in Moscow.

Berdi Kerbabayev started his creative work in 1923. Since that period he had published more than 30 literary works of various genres: several plays, librettos, poems, literary scenarios and some prose works. At the same time he translated the works of Alexander Pushkin, Mikhail Lermontov, Nikolai Gogol, Leo Tolstoy into the Turkmen language. In the poems "Girls’ World" (1927), "Enslaved" (1928), "To the New Life" (1930), the author described the hard lot of the Turkmen woman in the past. He also supported norms of the socialistic morals. The poem "Amu-Darya" (1930) is devoted to the socialistic construction. In the historical novel "The Decisive Step" (vol. 1–2, 1940 – 1947; vol. 3, 1955) the role of agriculture in the socialistic revolution and friendly relations of Turkmen farmers with Russians are depicted vividly. During World War II the play "The Hero of the Soviet Union Kurban Durdy" (1942), the poem "Ailar" (1943), the tragedy about the great Turkmen poet and patriot "Magtymguly" (1943), the play "Brothers" (1943), the libretto for the first modern Turkmen opera "Abadan", the short stories "Who won?", "Aspiration" and others were published. In post-war period the theme of the socialistic labour prevails in the author's works – the story about the daily life of collective farming village "Aysoltan from the land of white gold" (1949), the novel "Nebit-Dag" (1957) about the oil industry workers. The novel "Born by a Miracle" (1965) narrates about the Turkmen revolutionist K. Atabaev.

• Afonnikov G. G. The humanism of B. Kerbabaev – Ashgabat, 1976. – pg. 39.
• Ashirov G. The problem of internationalism in the novels of Berdi Kerbabaev – Ashgabat, 1978. – pg. 26