Well-known poet Rasul Gamzatov passed away

Prominent poet Rasul Gamzatov passed away on Monday at the Central Clinical Hospital in Moscow.

In the evening, poet's remains will be sent to his birthplace - Daghestan (a republic in the Northern Caucasus), sources in the permanent representation of the republic in Moscow told RIA Novosti correspondent.

Rasul Gamzatov was born on September 8, 1923, in the village of Tsada in the Khunzakhski district of the former Daghestan autonomous Soviet socialist republic, son of the famous people's poet of Daghestan, laureate of the State Award of the Soviet Union Gamzat Tsadasy.

Mr. Gamzatov started to write poetry when he was nine. His first book of poetry in Avar language was published in 1943. Since then, dozens of his poetry and prose books and journalistic works have been published in Russian, Avar and many other languages of Daghestan, Caucasus region and the world.

Rasul Gamzatov has translated poems of Puskin, Lermontov, Nekrasov, Shevchenko, Blok, Mayakovski, Yesenin, Arab poet Abdul Aziz Haji and many other authors into Avar language.

He also wrote lyrics for a variety of popular songs in Russia.