Preparing for your participation in IFLA’s Library and Information Congress this August? We’ve curated a list of Kazakhstan-centred books to help prepare the way!
Why not enrich your experience by exploring a book or podcast that brings Kazakhstan’s rich culture, history, and landscapes to life? From the vibrant streets of Almaty to the wide open plains and ancient Silk Road cities, these stories offer a deeper sense of the places and people that make this Central Asian nation so unique.
This selection of books below offers a deep dive into all things Kazakhstan.
About Astana
- Astana: Architecture, Myth & Destiny
Frank Albo - ‘City of the Future’ – Built Space, Modernity and Urban Change in Astana
Mateusz Laszczkowski
On Kazakh heritage and culture
- Apples Are from Kazakhstan: The Land that Disappeared
Christopher Robbins - Kazakhstan – Culture Smart! The Essential Guide to Customs & Culture
Dina Zhansagimova - Vanished Khans and Empty Steppes: a History of Kazakhstan from Pre-History to Post-Independence
Robert Wight and Carole Mitchell
Fiction
- A Life at Noon
Talasbek Asemkulov - The Dead Wander in the Desert
Rollan Seisenbayev - To Hell with Poets
Baqytgul Sarmekova - Ballad of Forgotten Years
Abish Kekilbayev - Amanat: Women’s Writing from Kazakhstan
Zaure Batayeva & Shelley Fairweather-Vega (Editors) - The keeper of Antiquities
Yury Dombrovsky
Non-fiction (travel, history, region)
- Kazakhstan (Bradt Travel Guide)
Paul Brummell - Kazakhstan: Nomadic Routes from Caspian to Altai (Odyssey Illustrated Guides)
Dagmar Schreiber and Jeremy Tredinnick - Once in Kazakhstan: The Snow Leopard Emerges
Keith Rosten - Kazakhstan: Surprises and Stereotypes After 20 Years of Independence
Jonathan Aitken - Sovietistan: Travels in Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan
Erika Fatland - A Five Finger Feast: Two Years in Kazakhstan, Lessons from the Peace Corps
Tim Suchsland - Atomic Steppe: How Kazakhstan Gave Up the Bomb
Togzhan Kassenova - Stories from the Steppe: A Journey Through Kazakhstan’s Heart and Soul
Kim Aasland - Inside Central Asia: A Political and Cultural History of Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkey, and Iran
Dilip Hiro