Elchin Efendiyev

Elchin Efendiyev (Elchin) was born in Baku.

He studied at the Philology Faculty of Azerbaijan State University (1965), and at the postgraduate course in Literary Theory of the Nizami Institute of Literature of the Azerbaijan Academy of Sciences (1968).

He defended his candidacy dissertations on the topic “Azerbaijani Fiction in Literary Criticism” and his doctoral dissertations on the topic “The Problem of History and Modernity in Literature”. His first story was published in the newspaper “Azerbaijani Youth” at the age of 16 (1959). His first book of stories, “One of a Thousand Nights,” was published in 1965. He has published about 100 books in different languages. He was a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of Azerbaijan. He served as Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Azerbaijan (1993-2018), Chairman of the Society for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries – “Vatan” Society.

He was awarded the “Istiglal” (2003) and “Shohrat” (2018) orders.

Honored Artist (1984), People's Writer (1998), Doctor of Philology, Professor Elchin Efendiyev died in 2025 and was buried in the Alley of Honor.

Writer Elchin Efendiyev is the son of writer Ilyas Efendiyev.