Hamid Ismailov

Hamid Ismailov (Russian: Хамид Исмайлов) (Uzbek: Hamid Ismoilov / Ҳамид Исмоилов or Абдулҳамид Исмоил) born May 5, 1954 in Tokmok, Kyrgyzstan,[1] is an Uzbek journalist and writer who was forced to flee Uzbekistan in 1992 and came to the United Kingdom, where he took a job with the BBC World Service. He left the BBC on the 30 April, 2019 after 25 years of service. His works are banned in Uzbekistan.

Life and career

Ismailov graduated from the military school on communication and later several departments of Tashkent University (Biology, Law, Management)[2]

Ismailov has published dozens of books in Uzbek, Russian, French, German, Turkish and other languages. Among them books of poetry: "Сад" (Garden) (1987), "Пустыня" (Desert) (1988); of visual poetry: "Post Faustum" (1990), "Книга Отсутстви" (1992); novels "Собрание Утончённых" (1988), Le vagabond flamboyant (1993), Hay-ibn-Yakzan (2001), Hostage to Celestial Turks (2003), "Дорога к смерти больше чем смерть" (The road to death is bigger than death) (2005), and many others. He has translated Russian and Western classics into Uzbek, and Uzbek and Persian classics into Russian and some Western languages.

At the end of 1980-ies he created a fictional literary group 'Conference of Refined', consisting of successfully published and acclaimed heteronym poets, philosophers, literary critics, writers and translators.[3]

In the beginning of the 1990-ies Ismailov collaborated with a French composer Michel Karsky in creating several examples of sonic or musical poetry pieces like 'Babylon eclatee' or 'Hourglass/Le pas dernier'

Ismailov's novel The Railway (Russian: Железная дорога), originally written before he left Uzbekistan, was the first to be translated into English, by Robert Chandler, and was published in 2006. A Russian edition was published in Moscow in 1997 under the pseudonym Altaer Magdi (Russian: Алтаэр Магди).[4] Another novel, A Poet and Bin-Laden (English translation of "Дорога к смерти больше чем смерть"), translated by Andrew Bromfield, was published in September 2012.[5] His triptych of novels, "Мбобо", in English The Underground (published worldwide by Restless Book,[6] Googling for Soul, and Two Lost to Life have also been translated into English.[5] His book "The Dead Lake" (English translation of "Вундеркинд Ержан" by Andrew Bromfield) was published by Peirene Press early in 2014.[7] His novel "The Devils' Dance" was published by Tilted Axis Press in 2018. It won the EBRD Literary Prize in 2019.

On 30 April 2010, the BBC announced Ismailov's appointment as Writer in Residence for BBC World Service for two years. The blog was launched on 10 May 2010.[8] On the 31 December 2014 Hamid Ismailov announced on his Facebook and Twitter accounts that he stops his tenure which lasted 4,5 years.[9] In June 2012, Ismailov represented Uzbekistan at the Poetry Parnassus in London.

Exile and ban

Hamid fled Uzbekistan in 1994 after the Islam Karimov regime opened a criminal case against Ismailov. The authorities said Ismailov was trying to overthrow the government and received threats against his family and attacks on his home.[10] His works are still banned in the country.[11] He is a vocal critic of the country's government and its poor human rights record[12] and censorship.[13]

Works

Poetry
  • Сад (Garden) (1987)
  • Пустыня (Desert) (1988)
  • Post Faustum (1990)
  • Книга Отсутстви (1992)

Novels
  • Собрание Утончённых (1988)
  • Le vagabond flamboyant (1993)
  • Hay-ibn-Yakzan (Of Strangers and Bees) (2001)
  • Hostage to Celestial Turks (2003)
  • Дорога к смерти больше чем смерть (The road to death is bigger than death, translated as The Poet and Bin-Laden) (2005)
  • The Railway (Russian: Железная дорога) (2006)
  • Мбобо (The Underground) (2013)
  • Googling for Soul
  • Two Lost to Life
  • Вундеркинд Ержан (The Dead Lake) (2014)
  • Jinlar basmi yoxud katta o'yin (The Devils' Dance) (2016)
  • Gaia, Queen of Ants (2020)
  • Amber or Good Morning, Good Night
  • Manaschi (2021)

Notes
  1. "Хамид Исмайлов - Берег новостей". www.uzbereg.ru. Retrieved 6 October 2017.
  2. "Хамид Исмайлов. "Ночь Предопределения" / само предлежащее / сетевой журнал TextOnly.ru, выпуск #26". textonly.ru. Retrieved 6 October 2017.
  3. Korchagin, Kirill (2017). "When We Replace Our World …". Russian Studies in Literature. 53 (3–4): 205–232. doi:10.1080/10611975.2017.1416533.
  4. Diane Nemec Ignashev, review of Ismailov, The Railway, Slavic and East European Journal 51.2 (Summer 2007), p. 415.
  5. "A Poet and Bin-Laden - Hamid Ismailov - Glagoslav Publications". www.glagoslav.com. Retrieved 6 October 2017.
  6. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2014-01-16. Retrieved 2013-12-04.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  7. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2017-02-22. Retrieved 2015-01-11.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  8. "BBC - Press Office - BBC World Service appoints Hamid Ismailov as Writer in Residence". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 6 October 2017.
  9. "Security Check Required". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 6 October 2017.
  10. https://www.indexoncensorship.org/2018/03/journalism-in-exile-uzbekistan-continues-its-bar-on-hamid-ismailov/#:~:text=He%20was%20denied%20entry.,cultural%20life%20of%20his%20homeland.
  11. https://www.thenational.ae/arts-culture/books/hamid-ismailov-is-still-connected-to-uzbek-culture-despite-exile-from-his-homeland-1.940696
  12. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jun/17/uzbekistan-writer-hamid-ismailov-exile
  13. https://www.britishcouncil.org/voices-magazine/novelist-hamid-ismailov-storytelling-social-media-censorship

References

Further reading

KOCIEJOWSKI, Marius. God's Zoo: Artists, Exiles, Londoners (Carcanet, 2014) contains a biographical chapter "A Ghostly Hum of Parallel Lines – Hamid Ismailov, Writer, and Razia Sultanova, Musician"

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