The first biography of Chokan Valikhanov ever published in Italy was presented in Rome. Written by Federico Pastore and published by Sandro Teti Editore, the book is devoted to one of Kazakhstan’s most important cultural figures. Alongside the author and publisher, the event featured Aida Balayeva, Kazakhstan’s Minister of Culture, and Yerbolat Sembayev, Kazakhstan’s Ambassador to the Italian Republic.

“Chokan Valikhanov and the Birth of Modern Kazakhstan is a shining example of bringing our peoples closer together through knowledge: Italy and Kazakhstan are united not only by culture and art, but also by shared goals in science and education,” the minister said. She expressed the hope that the book would inspire “new generations of researchers and scholars”.

“This book,” said author Federico Pastore, “tells the story of a nation’s birth through biography. Valikhanov calls to mind a character from an adventure novel, a figure worthy of Emilio Salgari: his country’s first ethnographer, a geographer, a tsarist officer and later a spy, a descendant of Genghis Khan and a great-grandson of Ablai Khan, one of the last independent khans of the steppe. He was a writer able to connect two worlds, the first Kazakh capable of speaking to Europeans and conveying the richness of his people.” Pastore also recalled Valikhanov’s special relationship with the great Russian writer Fyodor Dostoevsky, with whom he shared a deep intellectual friendship.