PALH 

TARBA IVAN KONSTANTINOVICH

21.03.1921 — 29.01.1994


He was born on 21 March 1921 in the village of Beslakhuba, Ochamchir district, Abkhazian ASSR.
He attended Baslahu Primary School and also Ochamchira Secondary Boarding School.
In 1947 he graduated from the Sukhumi Pedagogical Institute named after A. M. Gorky, Russian Language and Literature Department of the Faculty of Philology.
He worked in the editorial office of the newspaper «Apsny Kapsh» («Red Abkhazia»).
He was chairman of the Writers' Union of Abkhazia.
In 1954-1958, he was the secretary of the Abkhaz Regional Committee of the Communist Party of Georgia, and was also elected a deputy to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.
From 1979 he was secretary of the Abkhaz Regional Council of Trade Unions. He started writing poetry early on.
He was in print from 1937.
His poems were published in magazines:
  • «Alashara» («The light»);
  • «Amzabz» («The Flame»);
  • «Akua-Sukhum»;
In newspapers:​
  • «Apsny kapsh»;
  • «Yetsvadjaa» («The Constellation»);
  • «Soviet Abkhazia»;
  • «Sabchota Abkhazetti» («Soviet Abkhazia»); 
Also:​
  • in the literary collection «Ertzahu» (Sukhumi, 1981); 
  • in «Anthologies of Abkhazian poetry» (M., 1958); 
  • in the first volume of «Anthologies of Abkhazian poetry. XX century» (Akua-Moscow, 2001; reissue - Akua-Moscow, 2009); 
  • in the book «Sukhumi motives. (The 2500th anniversary of Sukhum is dedicated)» (M., 2005) и др.
Works by the author:​
  • «Since the early days» (1953).
  • «About comrade friends» (1957).
  • «Известное имя: Роман» (1963),
  • «The sun is rising at our place. A novel» (1968),
  • «The Trial» (1969).
  • «My mother's eyes. A novel» (1979).
  • «Poetry and poems» (1959);
  • «The Spring Snow» (1970);
  • «The Songbook» (1973);
  • «I meet the sun» (1973);
  • «The road that never ends… Poetry» (1976);
  • «The peaks will echo» (1977);
  • «The morning ray» (1980).
I.K. Tarba's works were translated into Ukrainian, Belarusian, Georgian, Hindi and other languages.
The first Abkhazian film «Who will saddle the horse» was made from his script.
He passed away on 21 January 1994 after a long illness.