Sabir Rustamkhanli
Birth date:
20 May 1946
Sabir Rustamkhanli was born in the Hamarkand village of Yardimli.
He studied at the Faculty of Philology of Azerbaijan State University (1963-1968), and at the postgraduate course of the Institute of Literature named after Nizami of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences. He defended his dissertation on the topic “Jalil Mammadguluzadeh and folklore” and received the degree of candidate of philological sciences (1976).
He began his career as a student. He was a special correspondent in the newspaper “Literature and Art” (1967-1978), department head, deputy editor-in-chief, and editor-in-chief in the “Yazichi” publishing house (1978-1989). In 1989, he founded the first independent, democratic newspaper in Azerbaijan, “Azerbaijan”, and became its editor-in-chief (1989-1991). He served as Chairman of the State Press Committee of the Republic of Azerbaijan (1991-1992), Minister of Press and Information (1992-1995).
He was a deputy of the Milli Majlis (1990-2015). He was re-elected as a deputy in 2020. Since 1992, he has been the chairman of the Citizen Solidarity Party, which he founded.
His first book was published in 1970. He has published more than 20 books of poetry, prose, and journalism in Azerbaijan and abroad. He is the author of poetry books, poems, works of journalistic writing, and novels.
He is a People's Poet (2005), laureate of the "Shohret" Order (1996).
