The author of four collections of poetry, Kanat has won numerous competitions including the Shabyt International Festival in Astana. His poems have been published widely in literary magazines throughout Russia and Kazakhstan. With a degree in film and video directing, he has worked for seventeen years in television as a director, journalist, television host and producer and has won awards for his documentaries. He also teaches poetry seminars at the Open Literature School in Astana. Omar hoped to discover new American authors and cooperate on translations of their works into Russian and works of Kazakh poets into English.<\/p>\n\n\n\n