The PEN Català awards the Uighur poet Tahir Hamut Izgil with the Veu Libre 2025 award
The organization has praised his commitment to freedom of expression, his defense of the dignity of the Uyghur people, and the literary quality of his work.
PalmThe Committee of Persecuted Writers and the Board of PEN Català have decided to award the 16th edition of the Veu Libre Prize to the Uyghur poet, filmmaker, and activist Tahir Hamut Izgil, one of the most important voices in Uyghur literature and one of the most compelling witnesses to the repression he suffers. Tahir Hamut Izgil was born in 1969 in the Xinjiang region of East Turkestan. From a young age, he stood out as an innovative poet in Uyghur literature, with a body of work influenced by literary modernism and symbolism. He studied at the Nationalities University of China and worked for years as a filmmaker and cultural creator. In the mid-1990s, he was arrested and sent to a labor camp for political reasons. In 2017, when the Chinese government began the mass internment of the Uyghur population, Izgil fled with his family to the United States. Since then he has lived in exile and has become one of the leading international voices denouncing the crimes committed against his people. His memoir, When they come to arrest me at midnight (Edicions 62, 2024), captures with precise and haunting writing the daily life in Urumqi during the early years of repression, and has been acclaimed by critics from media outlets such as The Guardian and The New York Times.
Her poetry, translated into several languages and published in magazines such as Asymptote Journal and Words Without BordersIzgil combines spirituality with a lucid perspective on state violence and the fragility of collective memory. He has continued writing and publishing in exile, maintaining his commitment to Uyghur culture and creative freedom.
The Committee of Persecuted Writers and the Board of PEN Català have recognized, as elements that make Tahir Hamut Izgil deserving of the Veu Libre (Free Voice) award, "his commitment to freedom of expression, his defense of the dignity of the Uyghur people, and the literary quality of a body of work that bears witness to the oppression and persecution of the Uyghur people," as well as "the impact and relevance of a work that transcends denunciation and becomes a hymn to the resilience of the spirit in the face of injustice."
The Veu Lliure award is part of the events organized for the International Day of the Persecuted Writer, November 15. Each year, an artist donates a work to PEN Català to commemorate this day, a symbol of the commitment between art, freedom, and solidarity. This award was created by PEN Català in 2010, at the initiative of the writer Antònia Vicens, from Mallorca, was then vice-president of the organization for the Balearic Islands. Since then, the award has been given to writers, journalists, and artists from around the world who have suffered harassment, threats, or exile because of their beliefs. The prize recognizes their courage and defense of the universal values of freedom and justice.
