Kazakh supremo’s life recast as fairy tale

The squares out there who don’t frequent the theaters of Kazakhstan’s capital, Astana, probably haven’t seen this year’s movie and play about the life of Kazakhstan’s authoritarian leader Nursultan Nazarbayev. Luckily for them, his story is coming out as a children’s book. The AP reports:

A newly published book heralds [Kazakh President] Nursultan Nazarbayev’s achievements on the international diplomatic scene in the form of illustrated fables, state news agency Kazinform reported.

The book, titled Leader of the Nation Nursultan, is being published to coincide with the president’s 71st birthday Wednesday.

Government critics say such exercises are part of attempts to build a personality cult around Nazarbayev, who has ruled the oil-rich Central Asian nation since the 1980s, when it was still part of the Soviet Union.

Author Roza Akbolatova says the bright illustrations accompanying her stories will help make politics more accessible to children.

And if one fawning book wasn’t enough, Akbolatova has written another: an essay illustrated with photos of meetings between Nazarbayev and well-known figures in Kazakhstan that is confusingly also called Leader of the Nation Nursultan.

No doubt this one will be up there with Cinderella, Rumpelstiltskin, and all the other fairy tales about oppressive dictators of oil-rich nations.