For a complete account of Mu'min Qanoat's life, see Iraj Bashiri's article in "Encyclopedia of World Literature in the 20th Century."

Also referred to as Qanoatov, Mu'min Qanoat was born on May 20, 1923, in the Autonomous Badakhshan region of the Pamirs (Tajikistan). He grew up in a family of Kolkhoz farmers. Upon graduation in 1956 from Tajikistan State University, where he studied philology and history, he contributed to the poetry section of the "Voice of the Orient" journal poems that he had composed in the 1940s and whic he had published in local newspapers. Between 1961 and 1966, he was appointed the chief editor of the poetry section of the "Voice of the Orient." Qanoat joined the Writers Union of Tajikistan in 1961 and served as its First Secretary between 1977 and 1991. At the present, he lives in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan where he moved with his family in the late 1990s.

The mood and the tone of Qanoat's poetic career is set by his first collection entitled "The Flame" (1960). The volume embodies a thorough knowledge of the classical poetic traditions of the Perso-Tajik peoples, the base on which Qanoat draws to paint imagery at once delightful and compelling.

Qanoat came to the attention of Moscow critics and authorities after the publication of two of his later volumes: "The Stalingrad Anthem" (1971) and "Tajikistan--My Name" (1974). In 1977, he was recognized as a Poet Laureate of the USSR. A year later, his compatriot Tajiks honored him as their State Poet Laureate. Qanoat gained international attention after his "Dniepper Waves" (1964) and "The Story of Fire" (1971) were translated into Russian.

Qanoat is a master in finding representative characters, mostly from among the working class, to communicate his thoughts precisely to his reader. To tell the story of Anna, for instance, he spent a few months among the workers in Norak, getting to know the work involved as well as the people engaged in the struggle. In "Story of the Fire" then, he tells us about Anna's previous work on the Volga, before she came to Norak where she is serving in a managerial position. We see her hopes for reunion with her husband dashed daily and we observe her son grow up and become a genuine contributor to her well-being. Similarly, the untiring efforts of Soviet men and women, defending Stalingrad, are documented in Qanoat's "Stalingrad Anthem." In it, the mother image is most prominent. Two monologues, one at the beginning and one at the end glorify both motherhood and motherland.

Innovation, precision, and realism are the hallmarks of Qanoat's poetry. He places the reader within the frame of the poem so that he or she can experience the sights and sounds that have inspired the poem.