Chingiz Aitmatov Author

Chingiz Aitmatov (1928-2008) is widely viewed as the greatest literary figure of modern Kyrgyz stan. An author who wrote both in Russian and his native Kyrgyz, Aitmatov became best known for his novel Jamila (1958), though later novels such as The Day Lasts More than a Hundred Years (1980) and The Scaffold (1988) also garnered wide acclaim. As well as being a significant writer in any language, Aitmatov enjoyed a political career as his country's ambassador to the European Union, NATO and UNESCO. Daisaku Ikeda (1928-) is the President of Soka Gakkai International, a lay Buddhist organisation with some eleven million adherents in over 190 countries throughout the world. He is the author of over 80 books on Buddhist themes, and received the United Nations Peace Award in 1983.