Jura Hoshimi

Jura Hoshimi was born on 9 January 1948 in the Pulodon community of the Kanibadam district, in the north of what was then the Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic. He completed his secondary education in Kanibadam and went on to study in the faculty of Tajik philology at the Tajik State University named after V. I. Lenin in Dushanbe, now the Tajik National University, graduating in 1971. His first poems were published in the republic's periodicals from 1965, while he was still a teenager. He also completed military service in the Soviet Armed Forces, an experience that later produced his cycle of patriotic poems Khatti amoni (1989).

Hoshimi began his working life as a proofreader at the Irfon state publishing house. He then worked as an editor in the music programmes office of the State Committee for Television and Radio of Tajikistan, headed the literature and arts department of the children's newspaper Pioneer of Tajikistan (today's Anboz), served as executive secretary of the magazine Chashma and became editor in chief of Gul-gul, the national weekly for schoolchildren. He became a member of the Union of Writers of Tajikistan in 1990, and from 1991 he worked there as consultant on literature for children and young people.

He entered Tajik literature as a poet in the early 1970s and became one of its leading writers for young readers. His books of verse included Soyaboni sadranga (1980), Oftobak (1986), Man Alifbo mekhonam! (1994, written with Abdumalik Bahori), Nini bapo shud (1998), Az yak-yak to lak-lak (2000), Kulcha charo shirin ast? (2000), a Russian language collection (2000), Ruzi nav (2004), Charo shamolak vazid? (2008), Bachchahovu kuchaho (2008) and Musiqii khomushi (2012).

Working with well known Tajik composers, among them Sh. Sayfiddinov, J. Okhundzoda, Zarina Mirshakar and others, he wrote many songs for children. Examples of his work were included in textbooks for schools and higher education, his best poems were translated into several languages, and he himself translated the verse of poets from other countries into Tajik.

Hoshimi lived and worked in Dushanbe for most of his adult life. Little has been published about his private life. His death was announced by his relatives and friends, and his family organised his farewell ceremony in the capital.

Jura Hoshimi died in Dushanbe on 28 October 2026, aged 78. According to the Union of Writers of Tajikistan, he had suffered a stroke a few days earlier and had been admitted to the city hospital complex known as Medgorodok in Dushanbe. His relatives and friends announced his death on the evening of 28 October. A farewell ceremony was held on 29 October in the Voenny Gorodok district of Dushanbe.

The Ministry of Culture of Tajikistan expressed its condolences, highlighting his significant contribution to the development of modern Tajik literature, particularly works for children and teenagers.

Hoshimi is remembered as one of the main builders of modern Tajik poetry for children. His alphabet and nursery verses, songs and school readings reached several generations of young Tajik readers, and his work as an editor of children's newspapers and magazines and as the Writers' Union adviser on children's literature helped shape the field. His honours included the title of Excellent Worker of Education of Tajikistan (1982), a certificate of honour from the Government of Tajikistan (1994), the Medal for Distinguished Service (2003), the title of Excellent Worker of Culture (2009), the Abuabdullo Rudaki State Prize (2012) and the title of People's Poet of Tajikistan (2022).