Mammad Ismayil

Mammad Ismayil (Mammad Ismayilov) was born in the village of Asrik-Jirdakhan, Tovuz region.

He studied at the Philology Faculty of Azerbaijan State University (1964) and at the two-year Higher Literature Course under the USSR Writers' Union in Moscow (1975).

Worker at the Baku Main Construction Department (1958-1960), club manager in the Asrik-Jirdakhan village of the Tovuz region (1960-1964), extra in the Tovuz region Party committee (1964-1965), proofreader in the Gazakh inter-district newspaper "Galibiyet bayraya" (1965-1966), chief educator at the workers' hostel in Baku (1966), editor, senior editor, department head at the Azerbaijan State Radio and Television Committee (1966-1973), correspondent at the "Literature and Art" newspaper (1975-1976), editor-in-chief at the scientific-mass documentary film association of the "Azerbaijanfilm" studio (1976-1980), department head and deputy editor-in-chief at the "Yazichi" publishing house (1980-1983), director of the "Ishiq" publishing house (1983-1987), member of the Central Committee of the Republican Komsomol He was the head of the Republican "Youth Literary Union" of young writers under the "Youth-Molodost" magazine (1983-1992), the editor-in-chief of the "Youth-Molodost" magazines (1988-1992), the chairman of the "Oguz" (later "Tovuz") charitable society in Tovuz (1988-1993). He participated in the people's movement and worked as a co-chairman of the "Union of Democratic Forces" (1989-1993). He served as the chairman of the Azerbaijan Television and Radio Broadcasting Company (1992-1993). He worked as an expert in the joint dictionary project of "TIKA" and "Turkish Language Institute" in Turkey (1995-1996). Since 1996, he has been teaching at the "On Sekkis Mart" University in Çanakkale, Turkey.

He has been engaged in artistic creativity since the age of 14. His first poem was published in the district newspaper in 1956. He is the author of numerous books. His works have been translated into more than 50 languages, and he has translated and published the works of many writers in Azerbaijani and Turkish. For the series of programs "Odlar dirari", the first national program in the history of Azerbaijani television, he was awarded the "Golden Pen" award by the Azerbaijan Journalists Union for the first time in the history of television (1969).

Candidate of Philological Sciences (1998) Mammad Ismayil died in 2025.