DUSHANBE -- Well-known Tajik writer Bahmanyor Amini has died in Dushanbe at the age of 66.
The Union of Writers of Tajikistan said Amini died in his apartment early in the morning on November 10.
The cause of death was not given, but the union's Deputy Chairman Ato Mirkhoja said the writer had been dealing with stomach problems in recent months.
Amini worked as a journalist for leading newspapers in Tajikistan in the 1970-80s. Fluent in Arabic, he served as a translator for Soviet officials in Libya in 1983-85.
Amini was one of the first Tajik writers whose novels did not correspond to the norms imposed by Soviet officials and his books published in the late-1980s and early-1990s immediately made him popular.
His most popular novels, Hunter's Love, Water Horse, and Smoke Of Sorrow focused on the inner lives and emotional upheavals of his heroes, most of whom were residents of the fictitious Sarmad Valley.
Amini is survived by his two daughters and two sons.
