People's poet of Daghestan. Rasul Gamzatov's published his first book of poems, Love Inspired and Fiery Wrath, in 1934. He wrote dozens of love lyrics, long narrative poems, ballads, epigrams and philosophical octaves, books and translations in the Avar and Russian languages, such as Caranes, Tales, My Heart belongs to Mountains and The Wheel of Life. His book My Daghestan won him the Lenin Prize for poetry. Rasul's volumes of verses have been published in Daghestan, in Moscow in Russian and in Germany. He widely travelled Europe, Asia and America. He was chairman of the Union of Daghestan Writers as well as a deputy of the Soviet parliament. The Avar is the language spoken by Daghestani people numbering around by some 500,000 in the Daghestan region of North Caucasus. Until 1920, it was written in the Arabic script when the Soviet changed it to Latin and to Cyrillic in 1938. Originally a nomadic people who established a state in the Volga River area of Europe in the early 6th century, the Avars were regarded as among the most culturally advanced of the Caucasian people. They came to Islam between the 8th and 11th centuries. Daghestan had celebrated his 80th birthday on 8 September 2003 (before his death) and had declared the year 2003 Rasul Gamzatov Year. Rasul Gamzatov died in a Moscow Central Hospital and his body was flown to his hometown Makhachkala for burial.