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Writings

2026

  1. ReviewAtmosferə uyğun mahnı qoyNaiq BabayevNaiq Babayevin birinci kitabı “Kor nöqtə” məni nə qədər məmnun etmişdisə, ikinci kitabı o qədər kefimi pozdu. Məni ilk vuran, ətimi tökən, oxu zövqümü əlimdən alan məsələ müəllifin işlətdiyi ofis dili oldu. “Pleylist”, “slim fit”, “müzik-bar”, “kofeşop”...
  2. ReviewAltı ay, altı gün, altı saatŞamxal HəsənovBu roman yazıçılar üçün dərslikdir, məktəbdir. Yazıya marağı olan, yazı ilə əlləşən hamı bu kitabı mütləq oxumalıdır, çünki Azərbaycan dilini bilməyən müəlliflə Azərbaycan dilində düşünməyən redaktor əl-ələ verib, köməkləşib və yazarkən edilməməli olan hər şeyi göstərən mətn ərsəyə gətirib.
  3. ReviewÖlüdaşıyanlar üçün təlimat kitabıFuad İsayevFuad İsayevin “Ölüdaşıyanlar üçün təlimat kitabı” çoxdanışan adam təəssüratı yaradır. Roman 1992-ci ilin xaosunda atasını axtaran Qara adlı personajın hekayəsini nəql edir. Əsərin ən diqqət çəkən tərəfi onun formalaşdırdığı boz və yağışlı atmosferdir. Müəllifin yaratdığı bu rəngsiz dünya həmin dövrlərin ruhuna yaraşır. Bozluğun içində mistik funksiya daşıyan “Bənövşəyi Maşın” və “Çəhrayı Qoyun” təzadı maraqlı bədii tapıntıdır.

2025

  1. StoryMy Friend, the JinnTurns out my classmate was planning to introduce me to a jinn. He’d been sending these long, breathless messages: “I have something huge to tell you,” “terrible things have happened,” “we absolutely have to meet,” blah blah blah. Honestly, I didn’t want to meet him at all. The last time...
  2. ReviewPaleAshraf ArenEven the premise of this book brings a smile to your face: the misadventures of a three-hundred-year-old vampire living in Ganja. The events take place during the pandemic, and the story is told in the first person by a protagonist whose name we never learn. He is forced to donate blood...

2024

  1. ReviewThe Wooden LetterOn Ulviya Tahir’s NovelIn The Wooden Letter, Ulviya Tahir revisits the early years of Soviet rule — the years of confiscation and repression — through the voice of a child. That choice alone would daunt most writers; Tahir meets it with poise. At the outset, little Gamar watches as her father is taken...
  2. ReviewTwilight in DarknessRasim QaradjaAmong contemporary Azerbaijani poems, the one that has affected me most—and that I would likely call my favorite—is Rasim Garadja’s “Siz, ey ordakılar” (“You, Over There”). No one take offense: it is the best. Too bad this piece isn’t about that poem, or I’d praise it to my heart’s content. To be honest, I’m inclined...
  3. ReviewThe Story That Took Nikola Bone to the EastSeymur OrucThe impressions a book leaves on me determine the tone in which I write about it. I’ll share my impressions below, but as I was reading, one thought kept echoing in my mind—and with your permission, I’ll begin with that: one should never write a novel about things one doesn’t understand. Since the protagonist’s original name is Nicolas Bonnet...
  4. ReviewThe Song of the Fire PeopleFuad IsayevIt would be more accurate to call this book a set of attempts rather than a short-story collection. It seems to me that Fuad Isayev wrote pieces to test a few genres, styles, and forms, then issued them as a book. Speaking of issuing...
  5. ReviewSongs of the GoatsRashad SafarI’ll begin with what, perversely, is the book’s chief merit: its production is abysmal. Qanun Publishing’s habitual standards drag the pleasure of reading down a notch with every page. Now to the novel itself…

2023

  1. ReviewBlind SpotNaig Babayev“Blind Spot” is an unassuming—perhaps even slightly dull—starter that grows genuinely gripping, only to end in such haste that it sours the reader’s mood. And yet it’s an eminently readable, distinctive, and valuable novel...
  2. ReviewMahsatiMaha (Cavi Dan)Writing a novel with Mahsati Ganjavi at its center takes courage. To reanimate a poet about whom we know so little, to suggest the inspirations behind her rubaiyat—this is an arresting idea, and bringing such a difficult project to fruition calls for special care. In that respect, my congratulations to the author...
  3. ReviewItvuranAyyub GiyasI don't recommend reading this book—or, for that matter, writing a book like it—to anyone. Nor do I intend to go on at length about it, because there isn't much to say. The stories strike me as petty in substance, weak in plot, and wan in description. It may well be that Ayyub Giyas stands very high as a writer, that he has weighty novels...
  4. EssayThis article speaks to a local Azerbaijani context and is presented here in the original languageThis article speaks to a local Azerbaijani context and is presented here in the original language...

2022

  1. ReviewThe Qizilbash: AwakeningOn Khan Hasan’s NovelI know Khan Hasan’s talent well and have no doubt about his potential to give contemporary Azerbaijani literature remarkable works. I truly mean that. Yet my thoughts on his The Qizilbash cycle—specifically its first volume...
  2. ReviewOn the BrinkJavid RamazanovOn the Brink is Javid Ramazanov's debut novel. I hope this turns out to be the author's weakest book. The novel does try some interesting tactics and novelties. The narration is refreshingly free of bombast; the inner contradictions of the main...
  3. ReviewWingless AngelAysel ShikhliWe discussed the book with Ms Aysel, or rather, the “Dartanyanlar” book club organised a meeting with the author, and I joined from a distance to share my thoughts. Ms Aysel's graciousness in receiving criticism, her civility and simplicity left me with a very pleasant...
  4. ReviewThe Winged BridgeAtagamThe Winged Bridge is a collection of ten short stories, each more engaging than the last. Drawing on his travels, the places he's seen, the things that have happened to him and those he's heard about, Atagam invents stories whose language is anything but dry or anecdotal. The book, published in 2019 by Kohlan Prublishing, runs...
  5. ReviewShukriyya My DestinyUlviya TahirHow many farewells does a person live through in a lifetime? One parts with childhood, with youth, with health, with patience, with hopes — but among them all, the hardest, I think, is to part with the people one loves. You may separate from them physically, yet your heart never truly says goodbye…
  6. ReviewThe Character of DarknessRustam ShafizadeLike many young authors, Rustam Shafizade seems to share a common problem — the difficulty of finding a good editor. The book appears to have received little, if any, editing or proofreading. As a result, reading it requires a bit of patience...

2021

  1. ReviewSheikhSahile YayaThis book possesses an art-house sensibility. It does not provoke the reader with plot-driven questions like, “Good grief, why did that happen?” or “I wonder what happens next?” It demands patience of the reader; in return, it prompts one to reconsider the worldviews and religious perspectives of others, as well as...
  2. ReviewSound or RedShamkhal HasanovReading this novel requires a specific taste, and it provides a specific pleasure. In general, this is Shamkhal's style. From the very first sentences, you want to rush through the novel, to leap over the sentences, anxious to see “what happens next.” However...
  3. ReviewOrion 51Ruzigar AlekbarRuzigar Alekbar's novel, “Orion 51,” is a work of fantasy (science fiction) that is, to put it mildly, a strange novel. The novel concerns the experiences of a protagonist named Lefteris, who “lives” in the period after the Third World War...
  4. EssayThis article speaks to a local Azerbaijani context and is presented here in the original languageThis article speaks to a local Azerbaijani context and is presented here in the original language...
  5. EssayThis article speaks to a local Azerbaijani context and is presented here in the original languageThis article speaks to a local Azerbaijani context and is presented here in the original language...
  6. EssayThis article speaks to a local Azerbaijani context and is presented here in the original languageThis article speaks to a local Azerbaijani context and is presented here in the original language...
  7. EssayThis article speaks to a local Azerbaijani context and is presented here in the original languageThis article speaks to a local Azerbaijani context and is presented here in the original language...

2020

  1. EssayThis article speaks to a local Azerbaijani context and is presented here in the original languageThis article speaks to a local Azerbaijani context and is presented here in the original language...
  2. StoryYou Will See (In Times Past)The hot summer days of 2050 will come—very likely the hottest not only of the last thirty years but of the years that follow. Then, little by little, the weather will cool. Scientists will claim that, at this rate, global cooling will reach a highly dangerous point: animals in Africa will freeze to death; glaciers will supplant the oceans; and if nothing is done, the entire surface of the Earth will ice over...
  3. EssayThis article speaks to a local Azerbaijani context and is presented here in the original languageThis article speaks to a local Azerbaijani context and is presented here in the original language...
  4. ReviewLaocoön... Laocoön...Kamal AbdullaI read People’s Writer, Academician Kamal Abdulla’s Laokoon… Laokoon… and liked it so much—so much—that I decided to “praise” the academician. Let's “cut the plough in the furrow and not get lost on the threshing floor” [Translator's note: Azerbaijani idiom meaning “let’s be brief and to the point”]: Kamal Abdulla...

2019

  1. ReviewWater ExhibitionSerdar AminMy favorite aspect of Serdar Amin's creative work is his fairytale-like narrative style. As with his novel “Blackbird Song”, in “Water Exhibition” the author preserves his charming narrative voice, ensuring we are not bored even...

2018

  1. ReviewCarl Sagan – The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the DarkTranslated by Yalchyn IslamzadeThey said it appeared on the roofs of tall houses, or sometimes far away, shining a light while standing still in the dark sky. They came most often during Muharram, I think, right on Ashura itself. Back then, the word “aliens” was unfamiliar to us; “spacemen” hadn't taken hold, but “flying saucers” had been forced into our language...
  2. ReviewNo Left TurnJalil JavanshirPeople who are close to the world of books often ask each other, “What are you reading?” The answer changes frequently: sometimes it’s “Animal Farm” (G. Orwell), sometimes “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” (M. Kundera), sometimes...
  3. StoryThe Hero’s FearOur story's hero slouched into his high-backed, threadbare chair and powered up his computer. Before beginning the essay—on artificial intelligence—that he'd argued about with his friends all day, he meant to gather more material and trawl the internet for sources. So he skimmed what had already been written on the subject. Some pieces he abandoned partway through; a few he read to the end. When he raised his head...

2017

  1. StoryFacebook FriendsOn the doctor's Facebook page, many people had posted on his birthday. Beyond the simple 'congratulations', there were no shortage of grand, fervent, fiery messages from his friends: most began 'my friend', 'a fine person', 'a fine doctor', and ended with wishes like 'may you live to a hundred' and 'may God not deprive us of you'. It was clear he had...
  2. EssayThis article speaks to a local Azerbaijani context and is presented here in the original languageThis article speaks to a local Azerbaijani context and is presented here in the original language...
  3. EssayThis article speaks to a local Azerbaijani context and is presented here in the original languageThis article speaks to a local Azerbaijani context and is presented here in the original language...