Skina Vafa (Скины Вафа)

Скина Хабибовна Вафа

Skina Habibovna Vafa, or Скина Хабибовна Вафа (Moscow, USSR, February 18, 1928 – October 16, 2005) was a Spanish-to-Russian translator. In 1966, she translated the Ecuadorian novel “El chulla Romero y Flores” by Jorge Icaza into Russian as “Человек из Кито” (literally, The Man from Quito). She graduated from the Moscow Pedagogical Institute of Foreign Languages ​in 1951. From 1953-1958, she worked in the journal “Soviet literature (in foreign languages),” and from 1958-1963, she worked for Goslitizdat. In 1956, she began publishing her translations of prose by authors such as E. Mendoza, A. Barrera, S. Marg, E. Quiroga, among others. In 1957, she became a member of the Union of Journalists of the USSR, and in 1987, a member of the Union of Writers of the USSR.

Family

She was the daughter of the Indian writer Es-Khabib Ahmad Vafa – (Ludhiana, India, July 13, 1900 – Anapa, July 21, 1936). Her father was one of the founders of the proletarian literature of India. He was a member of the national liberation movement. He began writing poetry from childhood. In 1921 he was forced to emigrate to Afghanistan, and in 1923 to the USSR. Mr. Vafa’s talent was most fully revealed in civil and political poetry. His work is characterized by a complex interweaving of various stylistic systems, which was determined by the search for new visual means.

Translation of Ecuadorian novel

In 1966, Skina Vafa translated the novel “El chulla Romero y Flores” by Ecuador’s most famous author Jorge Icaza into Russian as Человек из Кито (literally, The Man from Quito). In Russian Jorge Icaza’s name is spelled Хорхе Икаса.

Cover of 1966 translation of Jorge Icaza’s El chulla Romero y Flores by Skina Vafa (Скины Вафа).

Resting place

Skina Vafa tomb in Moscow
Skina Vafa (Скины Вафа) is buried with her father Es-Khabib Ahmad Vafa (Эс-Хабиб Ахмад Вафа) in Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow.

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