Surviving Against All Odds: The Story of One Kazakh
A gripping true story of survival and resilience. Khamza Alimov endured famine, Stalin’s camps, and the cruelty of Soviet rule — but never lost his humanity. Told by his daughter, this powerful memoir weaves personal history with the collective trauma of the Kazakh people: a moving tribute and an essential account of a little-known chapter of 20th-century history.
Maruana Khamzaqizi
Maruana Khamzaqizi Abuova is a Kazakh writer, translator, and cultural figure, and a member of the Writers’ Union of Kazakhstan. Her work connects personal memory with collective trauma, drawing on her family’s experiences and the broader tragedies of Kazakhstan’s 20th-century history—including famine, war, and political repression.
Since 2000, she has published essays and short stories in Kazakh, Russian, and Uyghur, appearing in national and international outlets such as Atemeken, Zhetysu, Egemen Kazakhstan, Kazakhstan-Zaman, Uighur Avazi, Turki Alemi, Baldrgan, Gulstan, Zhalyn, Zhuldyz, Literaturnaya Alma-Ata, and digital platforms like Abai.kz and Ult.kz. Her work has been translated into Turkish, Azerbaijani, and Uyghur, and featured in international literary journals including Guncel Sanat and Mektup Edebiyat (Turkey) and Ildyz (Azerbaijan).
She is the author of several books, including Yovsan ətri (The Smell of Wormwood, 2017, Baku), I Can’t Live Without You (2016, in Russian), Қайран әкем (2021, in Kazakh), and Surviving Against All Odds: The Story of One Kazakh (2022, in Russian; now available in English). Her story “I Can’t Live Without You” was also included in an anthology of modern Azerbaijani prose.
In 2014, she won the “From Heart to Heart” literary contest for best online short story. She was nominated for Russia’s national Writer of the Year award in 2017 and 2020, and her work was featured in the annual Writer of the Year almanac. In 2021, she was awarded the Ivan Bunin Medal for contributions to Russian-language literature.
Maruana Khamzaqizi is also active in international literary and cultural organizations. She represents Kazakhstan in ASKEF (Avrasya Sanat Kültür Edebiyat Federasyonu) in Turkey and is a member of the Committee of Turkic Women and the Azerbaijani Women’s Committee in Kazakhstan.
Surviving Against All Odds is more than a daughter’s tribute to her father, Hamza Alimov—a Gulag survivor and a man of unwavering moral courage. It is a powerful literary testament to the endurance of the Kazakh spirit and a moving memorial to generations shaped by hardship and resilience.