(pen name of Serafim Romanovich Kulachikov). Born Nov. 16 (29), 1904, in the nasleg of Nizhniaia Amga, Boturus ulus, in what is now Alekseevskii Raion, Yakut ASSR; died Dec. 14, 1976, in Yakutsk. Soviet Yakut poet. People's Poet of the Yakut ASSR (1964). Member of the CPSU from 1946.
Elliai graduated from the Moscow Institute of Journalism in 1928. He served in the Great Patriotic War (1941-45). He was the author of the collections of verses and narrative poems Red Songs (1925), A Happy Life (1938), Songs of Victory (1950), Undying Flame (1969), and A Friend's Heart (1973).
Elliai's stylistically innovative works are pervaded with Yakut national spirit and patriotism. They have profoundly influenced the development of Yakut poetry. Elliai also translated works by A. S. Pushkin, T. G. Shevchenko, and V. V. Mayakovsky.
Elliai was awarded the Order of the October Revolution, two other orders, and medals.
Talïllïbït ayïmnyïlar, vols. 1–2. Yakutsk, 1964–65.
Talïllïbït ayïmnyïlar, vols. 1–2. Yakutsk, 1974.
Ocherk istorii iakutskoi sovetskoi literatury. Moscow, 1970.