My Name is Kozha

At first glance, Kozha is an unruly young boy - tugging girls' pigtails, brashly retorting to adults and committing a slew of childish pranks. Yet, despite this, his nature is thoughtful, kind - if one would only get to know him better. The author of the book "My Name is Kozha" BERDIBEK SOKPAKBAEV [1924-1992] was born to a poor Kazakh family, always struggling to make ends meet. Berdibek's mother passed away when he was a young boy, and this loss pained him greatly - until his very death. The family circumstances forced him to endure years of back-breaking hard labor. Nevertheless, he was a curiously spirited, vibrant and able child. Upon completion of his primary schooling, he joined the army. After the army, he was accepted into the Kazakh Pedagogic Institute named after Abai in the city of Alma-Ata (now Almaty), and would continue his graduate education, specializing in literature, in Moscow. He settled down there for several years, taking up work as a teacher. My Name is Kozha brought the author his greatest literary acclaim. It was first released by the publishers "Detskaya Literatura" (Children's Literature) in Moscow. Once it gained popularity, the Russian translation became the foundation for numerous other translations and publications abroad - including France, Poland, the Czech Republic and Bulgaria. The film "My Name is Kozha" earned a prestigious award at the International Child/Young Adult Film Festival, in Cannes in 1967. The book is included into the collection "We are Kazakhs: Classic Books of Kazakh Writers in English", published by "Metropolitan Classics", New York under the supervision of the President of Kazakh PEN-club Mr. BIGELDY GABDULLIN