To Hell with Poets
SynopsisPlot
Vivid, hilarious and unsettling, the tragicomic characters of To Hell with Poets reflect the inner discord of the modern Kazakh. The stories move between the city and the aul, postsocialist and capitalist worlds, tradition and modernity. Incisive and unapologetic, Sarmekova refuses to hold back, offering a sharp and honest rendering of daily life in Kazakhstan.
Story
About this book
To Hell with Poets is the first English-language short story collection by Kazakh writer Baqytgul Sarmekova. The stories follow characters caught between contrasting worlds: urban life and the aul, the traditional rural settlement central to Kazakh culture. Sarmekova writes about daily existence in contemporary Kazakhstan, where postsocialist habits and capitalist pressures sit side by side, often uncomfortably.
The collection carries a tragicomic tone, mixing humor with unease. Characters face the kind of inner friction that comes from living in a society shaped by rapid change, where older customs and newer expectations do not always fit together. Sarmekova's writing is direct and does not soften what she observes. The stories move between settings and social registers, grounding their situations in specific details of Kazakh life rather than broad generalizations.
Kazakhstan is the ninth largest country on Earth by land area, stretching from the Caspian Sea to the Altai Mountains, yet its contemporary literature remains underrepresented in English translation. This collection offers one point of entry into that landscape, presenting fiction rooted in places and tensions particular to the region.
