WSadriddin Ayni was a Tajik intellectual who wrote poetry, fiction, journalism, history and lexicography. He is regarded as Tajikistan's national poet and one of the most important writers in the country's history.
WWasef Bakhtari is an Afghan poet, literary figure and intellectual.
WAsad Gulov, also known as Asad Gulzodai Bukhoroyi or Asad Gulzoda is a Tajik poet, linguist and journalist.
WLatofat Kenjaeva is a Tajik poet, writer, and journalist. She was born in the Ghonchi district of the Sughd Province of Tajikistan on June 8, 1950. After graduating from the district's School No.1 in 1967, she began studying journalism at Tajik National University, graduating with distinction in 1972. Her first job was in the drama division of the Committee for Radio and Television in Tajikistan. Since 1981 she has been the editor-in-chief of the youth and children's magazine Istiqbol, which officially became an international organization in 2008. She is a member of the Union of Writers of Tajikistan (1996) and the Union of Journalists of Tajikistan (1998). Her many works include poetry for both children and adults and prose writing. Many examples of her first works appeared in the book Examples of Children's Poetry. Her book of riddles and language games, The Little Chest of Pearls, was first published in 1997 and was made an official textbook for public schools by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Tajikistan in 1998 and is now in its third printing. Her works have been published in translation in Russian, English, Uzbek, Belarusian, Ukrainian and several other languages.
WKhalilullah Khalili was Afghanistan's foremost 20th century poet as well as a noted historian, university professor, diplomat and royal confidant. He was the last of the great classical Persian poets and among the first to introduce modern Persian poetry and Nimai style to Afghanistan. He had also expertise in Khorasani style and was a follower of Farrukhi Sistani. Almost alone among Afghanistan's poets, he enjoyed a following in Iran where his selected poems have been published. His works have been praised by renowned Iranian literary figures and intellectuals. Many see him as the greatest contemporary poet of the Persian language in Afghanistan. He is also known for his major work "Hero of Khorasan", a controversial biography of Habībullāh Kalakānī, Emir of Afghanistan in 1929.
WMirsiad Mirshakar or Mirsaid Mirshakarov was a Soviet administrator, author, playwright and poet.
WPartaw Naderi is a social activist, author and poet from Afghanistan.
WAbdul Latīf Pedrām is a politician and a Member of Parliament in Afghanistan. He emerged as a controversial figure in the press and political circles for campaigning for women's personal rights, a taboo subject in Afghanistan's culture. Currently, he is the leader of the National Congress Party of Afghanistan and is one of the nine representatives of Badakhshan province in the lower house of parliament.
WLoiq Sher-Ali was a Tajik poet, Iranologist and one of the most celebrated Persian literary figures of Tajikistan and central Asia.
WBozor Sobir was a preeminent Tajik poet and politician, known as the national poet of Tajikistan and 'the conscience of the nation'.
WMirzo Tursunzoda was an important Tajikistani and Soviet poet and a prominent political figure, full member (academician) of the Tajik Academy of Sciences, a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Tajikistan, a member of the Union of Soviet Writers. Today Tursunzoda has been elevated to the level of Hero of Tajikistan.