Chingiz Aitmatov’s very famous novel 'The First Teacher' which is translated to Sinhala as 'Guru Geethaya' is a widely read book by Sinhala readership. Its political theme and the love story caught hearts of Sri Lankan youth, especially of university students.

 

Aitmatov was bilingual in Kirghiz and Russian and wrote in both languages. The year of his birth coincided with the publication of the first written Kirghiz alphabet. He was awarded the Lenin Prize for literature and the Arts in 1963 for his stories collection called ‘Tales of the Mountains and Steppes’. Sinhala readers should have read many of his works as translations. They are Jamila (1958), The First Teachr (1963) (Guru Geethaya), Mother Earth (1963) (Amma Saha Mihikatha), Farewell Gulzary (1966) (Samuganimu Gulsary) and The Cranes Fly Early (1975) (Welasana Kokku Evith).