O‘tkir Hoshimov (1941-2013) was born in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. His first book was a collection of essays called Poʻlat chavandoz (Steel rider, 1962), while Choʻl havosi (Desert air, 1963) is considered his first major work of fiction. Read More His novellas include Shamol esaveradi (The wind will keep blowing, 1966), Bahor qaytmaydi (Spring will not return, 1968), Qalbingga quloq sol (Listen to your heart, 1973), and Dunyoning ishlari (Earthly things, 1982), from which “The Golden Earring” is excerpted. This last work, a series of autobiographical vignettes that centralizes women’s experiences, is set in an Uzbek mahalla during the aftermath of the Second World War. In later novels, including Ikki eshik orasi (Between two doors, 1986), he experimented with structure, narrating events from diverse perspectives and across diverse time periods. His novel Tushda kechgan umrlar (Lives passed in dream, 1993) is even more aesthetically daring, blurring the boundaries between past and present. Several of his works have been adapted for the screen. He has also written a number of plays and screenplays. In the years preceding the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Hoshimov drew public attention to the repression of Uzbeks; in the run-up to independence, he was the leader in establishing an Uzbek literary style that deviated from the linear plotting of socialist realism.