A book signing and promotional event for Imprisoned Souls: Poems of Uyghur Prisoners in China was held in London. The event also brought the Uyghur genocide to the agenda.
The signing and promotional event took place on December 16, 2025, at the Yunus Emre Institute in London. The book brings together the poems and life stories of Uyghur poets who have been arrested, sentenced to long-term imprisonment, or forcibly disappeared as part of the large-scale genocide policies initiated by the Chinese government in East Turkistan since 2017.
Compiled and translated by UK-based Uyghur intellectual Aziz Isa Elkun, the book includes the biographies and works of 25 Uyghur poets, including Gulnisa Imin Gulhan, Nurmuhammet Yasin Orkeshi, Ablet Abdureshit Berqi, Perhat Tursun, Abdurehim Abdulla, Abduqadir Jalalidin, Adil Tuniyaz, and Vahitjan Osman.
In addition to Aziz Isa Elkun, speakers at the event included Turgunjan Alawudun, President of the World Uyghur Congress; Ross Holder, Asia-Pacific Lead for PEN International; Jennifer Langer, Founding Director of Exiled Writers Ink; and Prof. Dr. Rachel Harris, a faculty member at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London.
In his speech, World Uyghur Congress President Turgunjan Alawudun addressed China’s policies of oppression and genocide targeting Uyghur education and intellectuals, outlining the persecution faced by Uyghurs and offering an assessment of the current situation.
Ross Holder, Asia-Pacific Lead for PEN International, stated that the poets reflected their deep pain and suffering in their work, alongside pride in their identity. Emphasizing that Gulnisa Imin’s poems convey both a strong spirit of resistance and the fear of being separated from her children, Holder noted that the poems are deeply moving and constitute an urgent call for the world to resolutely defend Uyghur freedom.
Jennifer Langer, Founding Director of Exiled Writers Ink, stated that many of the poets featured in the book have disappeared into China’s mass detention camps and prisons, and that their fates and whereabouts remain unknown. She added that despair, pain, longing, and love are powerfully expressed in the poems.
Prof. Dr. Rachel Harris offered reflections on Uyghur poetry and culture, drawing attention to the vital importance of protecting this cultural heritage and promoting it on the international stage.
Heerret Schroder, a member of Austrian PEN, also spoke at the event. Schroder stated that she had nominated Perhat Tursun for the honorary presidency of the Austrian Writers’ Association and that she is translating one of his novels into German. She emphasized that imprisoning Uyghur poets, silencing their voices, and banning their works ultimately constitutes an attempt to destroy the Uyghur language and culture.
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