Early life Mamed Gadži-aga oğlu was born on 24 March 1872 in
Ordubad in the region of
Nakhchivan, then part of the Russian Empire. In his early publications, Ordubadi criticised ignorance, backwardness and religious fanaticism. In 1906, in
Tbilisi he published a collection of his poems titled
Gaflat (Ignorance), and in 1907 he published another poetry book titled
Vatan va hurriyat (
Fatherland and Freedom). He wrote for several Azerbaijani-language publications, including
Molla Nasraddin,
Irshad,
Sada and others. Ordubadi covered various political, social and educational issues. He firmly stood for the necessity of the enlightenment of Azerbaijani society under Russian rule. In 1911, Ordubadi published the book
Ganli sanalar (published in English as
Years of Blood in 2011), a collection of firsthand accounts of the
Armenian-Tatar massacres in 1905-1906. In the 1910s, Ordubadi published several plays, stories and novels. In 1914, the Russian authorities arrested and exiled him to
Tsaritsyn. In 1918, he joined the
Communist Party and returned to
Baku in May 1920, after the
Bolshevik conquest of Azerbaijan. Ordubadi became the editor-in-chief of the newspapers
Akhbar,
Yeni yol, and
Molla Nasraddin. Ordubadi wrote extensively during the Soviet period. His works include novels, satires, plays, and librettos (to the operas
Koroghlu,
Nargiz, and
Nizami). His famous works include
Dumanli Tabriz (
Foggy Tabriz, 1933–1948) and
Gilinj va galam (
Sword and Quill, 1946–1948). He wrote novels about the poets
Nizami Ganjavi,
Fuzûlî,
Molla Panah Vagif, and
Mirza Alakbar Sabir. ==Awards and legacy==