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A traditional book exhibition titled “Shikhali Gurbanov – 100” has been opened at the National Library to mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of Shikhali Gurbanov — Azerbaijani writer, playwright, poet, philologist, Doctor of Philological Sciences, State Prize laureate, and prominent public and political figure.

The exhibition features literary works, comedies, poems, materials on the life and creative path of the renowned scholar-dramatist and public figure, as well as publications in Azerbaijani and Russian, including periodical press articles and studies on his scientific and literary legacy.

Shikhali Gurbanov, who holds a special place in Azerbaijani literature and public life, graduated from the Azerbaijan State Pedagogical Institute (now Azerbaijan State Pedagogical University) in 1950. He then worked as a postgraduate and lecturer on Russian literature in the Department of Azerbaijani Literature.

In June 1956, he defended his dissertation on "A.S. Pushkin and Azerbaijani Poetry", earning the degree of Candidate of Philological Sciences. From January 1958, he served as a senior lecturer and associate professor at the Pedagogical Institute. Between 1961 and 1966, he headed the Department of Literary Relations at the Nizami Institute of Literature and Language of the Azerbaijan SSR Academy of Sciences. In 1964, he was awarded the title of Doctor of Philological Sciences. He also held several important public and political positions.

Between 1958 and 1961, he authored a number of stage plays, including "The Boss is Busy", "We Got Ourselves in Trouble", "We’ll Decide Ourselves", "It Didn’t Work Out That Way, So It Went This Way", "Without You", and the libretto for "Bahadir and Sona".

His 1966 comedy "The Beggar Son of a Millionaire" was performed on theater stages for many years.

Shikhali Gurbanov also regularly published lyrical poems, narrative poems, short stories, and critical articles in the press.

He was awarded numerous orders and medals, and in 1967, he received the prestigious Uzeyir Hajibeyli Republican State Prize.