Uyghur PEN Board Members
About us
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Uyghur PEN Centre’s New Leadership Team
On April 16, 2025, at the Mir Publishing House office in Almaty, Kazakhstan, members of the Uyghur PEN has elected their new leadership team. The newly elected Executive Committee of the International Uyghur Centre is as follows: Aziz Isa ElkunPresident of Uyghur PEN CentreEmail: penuyghur@gmail.com Aziz Isa Elkun is a poet, author and academic. He was born in Shayar County in Uyghuristan (East Turkistan), and graduated from Urumchi University. He has been living in London since 2001, where he studied at Birkbeck University. He has published many poems, stories, and research articles in both Uyghur and and English. Since 2013, he has participated in various research projects on Uyghur culture and music as a researcher at SOAS University of London, including the ‘Sounding Islam China‘ project in 2013 and the ‘Uyghur Meshrep in Kazakhstan’ project in 2018. He is an active member of the exiled Uyghur community and the founder of the Uyghur music group London Uyghur Ensemble, established in 2006. In early 2019, he produced a short documentary film, “An Unanswered Telephone Call”, depicting the ongoing sufferings of his family after China pursued a total blockade of international telephone calls between Uyghurs at home and abroad since 2017. He has co-authored English language articles with Rachel Harris, in Inner Asia and Central Asian Survey (‘Invitation to a Mourning Ceremony’: Perspectives on the Uyghur Internet and ‘Islam by Smartphone: the changing sounds of Uyghur religiosity’) and ‘Islam by smartphone: reading the Uyghur Islamic revival on WeChat’, Central Asian Survey 38(1), 2019, 61-80; co-authored a research report with Rachel Harris published by Uyghur Human Rights Project February 2023 (The Complicity of Heritage: Cultural Heritage and Genocide in the Uyghur Region); a book chapter published by The Routledge in 2022, “The Routledge Companion to Music and Human Rights” (‘Music, Terror, and Civilizing Projects in China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region’). One of his major editing and poetry translation works […]
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Uyghur PEN Centre President
Aziz Isa Elkun is a Uyghur author, poet, writer, and academic. He was born in Uyghuristan (East Turkistan) and grew up in Shahyar County, near the Tarim River on the northern edge of the Taklamakan Desert, where he completed his primary and secondary education. From 1988 to 1991, he studied Russian and Chinese languages at Xinjiang University in Urumqi. Shortly after graduating, he was persecuted by Chinese authorities due to his political activities during his high school and university years. In 1999, he fled East Turkistan and in August 2001, resettled in the United Kingdom. Since then, he has pursued further studies and continues to live in the UK with his family. In 2009, he graduated from Birkbeck, University of London, with a degree in Web Development and Multimedia. Elkun is an active member of the exiled Uyghur community and the founder of the Uyghur music group London Uyghur Ensemble, established in 2006. Since 2014, he has been involved in various research projects on Uyghur culture at SOAS University of London. From September 2017 to October 2022, he served as Secretary of the PEN Uyghur Centre and as Director of the Uyghur PEN Centre’s Revitalisation Project. From September 2023, he has been working as a researcher on a UK Research and Innovation-funded project, Maqam Beyond Nation, based at SOAS, University of London. Since April 2025, he has also been serving as President of the Uyghur PEN Centre. In addition, he is a member of English PEN. Published books: Selected Articles and Contributions: Some Research articles and Opinion pieces that reflect the ongoing China’s Uyghur Genocide were published on various websites, newspapers, and magazines: Documentary Film: In early 2019, he produced a short documentary film, “An Unanswered Telephone Call”, depicting the ongoing sufferings of his family after China pursued a total blockade of international telephone calls […]
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Uyghur PEN Centre Board Members
The new Executive Committee members of the Board include the following: President: Aziz Isa ElkunSecretary General: Alisher KhalilovChairman of the Executive Committee: Dr. Hakimjan GuliyevMembers: Hamid Hamrayev, Villiam Molotov, Ihsan Ismail, and Maryam Sultan The Uyghur PEN Centre held its official election on April 16, 2025, at the Mir Publishing House office in Almaty, Kazakhstan. In addition to local members attending in person, participants from around the world joined the event online. A total of 24 members took part in the meeting. The Board of the Uyghur PEN Centre nominated Aziz Isa Elkun – a UK-based poet, writer, academic, and former Secretary General of the Centre- for the presidency. Elkun, who had recently visited Kazakhstan, was present at the Almaty meeting and formally accepted the nomination. In his remarks, he thanked the Board for its confidence in him and pledged to work tirelessly to promote Uyghur literature globally and to defend the right to free expression for Uyghur writers and artists. Following a round of deliberations, the official election was held. Aziz Isa Elkun was unanimously elected President of the Uyghur PEN Centre. Subsequent elections for Board members were also conducted, completing the formation of the Centre’s new leadership team. The new Executive Committee members of the Board include the following: President: Aziz Isa ElkunSecretary General: Alisher KhalilovChairman of the Executive Committee: Dr. Hakimjan GuliyevMembers: Hamid Hamrayev, Villiam Molotov, Ihsan Ismail, and Maryam Sultan In his concluding remarks, the newly elected President underscored the urgency of the Center’s mission, particularly in light of the ongoing political and social challenges facing the Uyghur people. He reaffirmed the Uyghur PEN Center’s commitment to promoting Uyghur literature and arts globally, preserving the Uyghur language and cultural heritage, and defending the rights of Uyghur writers and artists. He called on all members of the […]
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Uyghur PEN Centre Online Revitalisation Project
AZIZ ISA ELKUN Director of Uyghur PEN Centre Online Revitalisation ProjectBoard member of Uyghur PEN CentreEmail: aziz.isaa@gmail.com Aziz Isa Elkun is a writer, poet and academic. He was born in Shayar County in East Turkistan. He graduated from Urumchi University. He has been living in London since 2001. In London, he studied at Birkbeck University. He has published many poems, stories, and research articles in both Uyghur and and English language (www.azizisa.org). He has co-authored English language articles in Inner Asia and Central Asian Survey (‘Invitation to a Mourning Ceremony’: Perspectives on the Uyghur Internet and Islam by smartphone: reading the Uyghur Islamic revival on WeChat’). From 2013 to 2020, he worked as a Research Assistant on the “Sounding Islam China” and “Uyghur Meshrep in Kazakhstan” (www.meshrep.uk) projects based at SOAS, University of London. In 2012, he published his first book “Journey from Danube river to the Orkhun valley” in Uyghur. He is an active member of the exile Uyghur Community and founder of a Uyghur music group – the London Uyghur Ensemble. From September 2017 to October 2020, he has served as Secretary of the PEN International Uyghur Centre (www.uyghurpen.org). Since January 2021, he is working as a Director for the Uyghur PEN Centre Online Revitalisation Project. Uyghur PEN Centre Online Revitalisation Project As we all know, the current situation of the Uyghurs in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China is critical and deteriorating. Uyghur writers, poets, academics and artists who have tried to exercise their basic rights to freedom of expression have become primary targets and victims of China’s Xi Jinping’s genocidal policies in the region. The Uyghur PEN Centre, a subordinate diaspora PEN Centre of the PEN International family, has encountered many hurdles over the past 10 years like many other exile writers, however we are determined to continue our work and give […]
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Contact us
AZIZ ISA ELKUN President of Uyghur PEN CentreEmail: aziz.isaa@gmail.com Aziz Isa Elkun, a London-based Uyghur poet, writer, and academic, currently serves as President of the Uyghur PEN Centre. On April 16, 2025, the Centre held its general election at the Mir Publishing House in Almaty, Kazakhstan, with 24 members in attendance. During the election, Aziz Isa Elkun was unanimously elected as President, reflecting strong support for his leadership and his ongoing efforts to promote Uyghur literature, language, and freedom of expression.
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The Uyghur PEN Centre
The Uyghur PEN Centre stands for the rights of the Uyghur people, for their freedom of expression and freedom of write! About Uyghur PEN and PEN InternationalEstablishment of Uyghur PEN Centre and current leadership About the Uyghur PEN Centre Online Revitalisation ProjectWho are the Uyghurs and What’s happening Now? About The Uyghur PEN Centre and PEN International The Uyghur PEN Center is one of 145 International PEN centers across the globe dedicated to promoting freedom of expression, thought and information for all. It stands in solidarity with writers everywhere who have been forced into silence by censorship. It stands for the rights of the Uyghur people, for their freedom of expression and freedom of write. It also campaigns for the release of imprisoned writers, for free media, for the right to one’s mother tongue, and for other rights related to freedom of expression. Uyghur PEN’s focus of expertise is on Uyghurs (Uyghur Autonomous Region, China) and Central Asia. As a chapter of International PEN, Uyghur PEN sees the right to express ourselves as essential to a free and just world. It recognises that literature is essential for understanding and engaging with people around the world, and it also promotes freedom of expression. PEN International’s history dates back to 1921. As a writers’ association, its membership is open to all published writers who subscribe to the organization’s charter, regardless of nationality, race, mother tongue or religion. It is a non-political and non-religious nonprofit organisation and has special consultative status at the UN and UNESCO. Like PEN International, Uyghur PEN’s membership is open to all writers. Its members, mostly Uyghurs, bring a wide spectrum of experience and work in fields ranging from academia and media to film production, translation and literature. Uyghur PEN is based in London, UK, but its board and […]