NUR-SULTAN – The special Presidential Literary Award will be established next year to support young Kazakh writers and poets, announced Kazakh Minister of Culture and Sports Dauren Abayev during an Aug. 16 press briefing in the Pavlodar Region, reported the ministry’s press service.
Young authors between the ages of 18 and 29 will be eligible to apply for the prize in 2023.
Also, the application period for the first national literary award launched this year is now open with a total prize fund of 35 million tenge (US$ 73,727).
Another project of the ministry – The Zhana Qazaq Adebieti (the new Kazakh literature) – provides writers with an opportunity to publish books with a circulation of 3,000 copies.
“This effort will encourage the younger generation’s creative spirit and inventive ideas as they develop a new way of thinking. We are setting new mechanisms to support aspiring authors, strong talents in prose, poetry, and drama,” said Abayev.