Culture policy

Culture policy

Azerbaijani sreenwriter and poet Alla Akhundova dies

17 September 2026 08:42 (UTC +04:00)

Alla Akhundova, an acclaimed screenwriter, poet and translator known for her contributions to Azerbaijani cinema and literature, has died, APA reports.

Abuzar Baghirov, head of the Moscow branch of the Union of Azerbaijani Writers, confirmed her death to APA.

Born in Moscow in 1939, Akhundova graduated from the Maxim Gorky Literature Institute in 1964. She later completed the screenwriting department of the Higher Courses for Scriptwriters and Film Directors in 1967.

Akhundova wrote the screenplay for Shared Bread (Sharikli Chorak), a well-known Azerbaijani film depicting the lives of children in Baku during World War II. She was also the screenwriter of the Azerbaijani film Like Apple, Like Apple (Alma Almaya Banzar).

Her work in cinema earned her the State Prize of the Azerbaijan SSR in 1970. In 1988, she was awarded the honorary title of Honored Art Worker of the Azerbaijan SSR. Since 2003, she had also been a recipient of an individual presidential pension in Azerbaijan.

Alongside her work in cinema and poetry, Akhundova translated works by prominent Azerbaijani literary figures into Russian, helping introduce Azerbaijani literature to a wider Russian-speaking readership.

Prominent Russian literary critic Stanislav Lesnovsky described Akhundova in the 1970s as one of the three leading figures of contemporary women’s poetry in the Soviet Union.