His real name is Nizomiddin Mir Alisher. He wrote his poems under the pen-names of Navoi (in his poems which were written in the old Uzbek language) and Foni (in his poems which were written in Persian language). Navoi is a great Uzbek poet, a representative of the Uzbek literature which is called Chigatoy leterature in the West. He was born in Herat and spent the main part of his life there. Navoi's family was close to Timurid's palace. According to the information of great historian Hondamir, an old poet Lutfi met with Alisher Navoi, when he was a child and Lutfi appreciated his talent.
During 1464-65 the fans of Navoi's creation collected all of his poems and copied them to make "devon". Since 1469 Navoi had lived far from Herat because of the inside fights which were going in Timurid's state.
One of the Timurid's Husayn Boyqaro took the crown of Herat in 1469, and a new period began in Navoi's life. In 1469 he was given a title as a stamper and in 1472 as a minister of the state (vazir) by Husayn Boyqaro. He was famous as a poet and a statesman and owned a great wealth at that time. During 1480 he built a number of madrasahs, 40 robots (the place where Karavan could have a little rest), 17 mosques, 10 honaqohs, 9 bath