ICAA-2012: The International Chingiz Aitmatov Award

Aitmatov Academy Journal: ICAA-2012 documents the second presentation of the International Chingiz Aitmatov Award, an international initiative established in London in 2011 to encourage the study and wider appreciation of Chingiz Aitmatov’s literary legacy and the cultures of Central Asia.

The volume provides a snapshot of the Academy’s activities surrounding the 2012 ICAA awards, bringing together material connected with Aitmatov’s enduring influence across literature, cinema, translation, and cultural scholarship. The 2012 awards recognised figures and institutions whose work had helped carry Aitmatov’s writing and cultural heritage to new audiences, including filmmaker Andrei Konchalovsky, actress Natalya Arinbasarova, Kazakhstan’s Nursultan Nazarbayev, and cultural institutions in London.

More than simply an awards publication, the journal reflects the international reach of Aitmatov’s work and the Academy’s effort to establish a meeting point between scholars, writers, artists, translators, and cultural institutions. At a time when Aitmatov’s works had been translated and published around the world, the ICAA sought to preserve and extend his contribution to international cultural dialogue.

Published in London by Aitmatov Academy in 2012 and edited by Sergey Shchetinin, this first volume is an interesting piece of Aitmatov scholarship and literary-cultural ephemera, particularly for readers interested in the international reception of one of Central Asia’s most celebrated writers.