Hizgil Davidovich Avshalumov (Russian: Хизгил Давидович Авшалумов; 16 January 1913 – 17 September 2001) was a Soviet novelist, poet and playwright.

Hizgil Avshalumov was born in the village of Nyugdi (a suburb of the city of Derbent, Dagestan) to a peasant family sometime between the years 1913-1916 depending on the source.

He fought in the North Caucasus and Belorussian fronts, was deputy commander of a cavalry saber squadrons of Cossack Regiment, and was twice wounded and shell-shocked.

After being demobilized, Avshalumov worked as correspondent for the national newspaper (Russian:Дагестанская правда) - Dagestankaya Pravda, and later as a consultant and secretary for the Union of Writers of Dagestan.

From 1960-1991 he worked as the editor for the magazine (Juhuri:Ватан советиму) Our Soviet Motherland, where he published stories about the life of the Mountain Jews.

For many years, novels about the ingenious Shimi Derbendi were printed on the pages of national newspapers, causing a constant interest in readers.

In 1969, the journal (Russian:Наш современник) - Nash Sovremennik published Avshalumov’s extensive series of short stories.

[3] In the stories "Retribution," "Family Arch," and "Legend of Love," the writer reflected the customs, traditions and way of life of the people during the dramatic events of the pre-revolutionary and Soviet periods.

Electronic Jewish Encyclopedia (EJE) commented:[2] "Avshalumov was one of the founders of the concept of "Tat people", supposedly separate from being Jews…"He has written four plays, including the first Judeo-Tat musical comedy (Juhuri:"Кишди хьомоли") "Sash childlessness" and the historical drama (Russian:"Толмач имама Шамиля") "The interpreter of Imam Shamil," the play (Juhuri:"Шими Дербенди") "Shimi Derbendi," and "Love is in danger."

[1] The author of collections of short stories and essays: Historical novels Sister-in-law and Son of Mummers (1974), about the life of the Mountain Jews after the October Revolution.