Last week the Embassy of Kyrgyz Republic in the United Kingdom had organized a presentation of the books of English authors about Kyrgyzstan. The presentation took part in Daunt Books shop based in Central London. Mr. Kuban Mambetaliev, the Kyrgyz Ambassador opened the presentation with his welcoming speech and greeted everyone who gathered that evening. He started the speech with reference to Kyrgyz history:

The history of the Kyrgyz people started more than two thousand years ago. The first note of ‘Kyrgyz’ was mentioned in ancient Chinese manuscripts by the chroniclers of that time and it is a historical fact.

It was a great honour for everybody to meet Mrs. Rowan Stewart, Mrs. Saffya Faar – the authors whose books were about Kyrgyzstan. Mrs. Lucy Kelaart, the editor of magazine ‘Steppe’ (a Central Asian Panorama) was also among invited guests and she recently published interesting essay about Kyrgyz treasure Issyk-Kul.

Mrs. Rowan Stewart’s book called ‘The Kyrgyz Republic’ is the main guidebook for many tourists, politicians and historians and contains very important information about the country. This is third edition and hopefully she will continue contributing to writing about Kyrgyzstan. Last time she visited Kyrgyzstan was back in 2007 and she admits that it has really changed in a positive way. She noted big progress in tourism development and she was amazed by fantastic scenery, amazing view and incredible valleys.

Mrs. Saffya Faar wrote ‘Revolution Baby’ which is about Kyrgyz revolution which took place in Bishkek in March 2005. She wrote it while she was in Kyrgyzstan for 3 years. She is absolutely in love with the country and even named her four month old daughter Jamilya, a Kyrgyz name.

I believe the presentation of these books is an important step towards building cultural relations between two countries and contributing to writing about Kyrgyzstan. I would like to thank the Kyrgyz Embassy in the United Kingdom for the chance given to Kyrgyz people in London to meet fantastic authors!