"Uyghur Literature.. Poetry and Prose" is a new book published in France by the authors "Muqaddas Mijit" who specializes in Uyghur civilization and university researcher Vanessa Vgangville, with the aim of preserving the culture and heritage of the Uyghurs, whom the Chinese authorities accuse of seeking to eradicate and erase their language and culture, and there are about one million of them in Detention centers, according to an article published by the French newspaper "l'obs".
The article's editor, Duane Boye, quoted Muqdis Mejit as saying that many prominent Uyghur names in the world of literature had disappeared, so she and author Vanessa Vgangifel decided to publish a book that translates their voices so that everyone can hear and read them.
Mejit published her texts within the book under her real name, unlike many writers of Uyghur origin whose materials were published under pseudonyms to preserve their safety and the safety of their acquaintances inside China, explains "Loops".
The French newspaper said that the book includes poems and prose texts belonging to a people who have been fighting for centuries against erasing their identity and civilization.
She talked about a text in the book that belongs to the famous Uyghur author "Hoshur", who was arrested by the Red Guards during the era of former Chinese President Mao Zedong during the "Cultural Revolution".
En septembre, après deux ans sans nouvelle parution, Jentayu sera de retour!
Petit aperçu de ce qui vous attend: notre anthologie 'Littérature ouïghoure – Poésie et prose', la toute première en traduction française, pour une littérature qui mérite plus que jamais notre attention pic.twitter.com/aM7MGN
— Edits Jentayu (@EditionsJentayu) July 22, 2022
New generation
Lopes added that the new generation of Uighur writers living in exile are "crying out to be heard," even as they write in Mandarin, the language in which they studied in Chinese schools, or another foreign language.
The newspaper quoted Mejit as saying that the last school books that included texts in the Uyghur language were banned from schools permanently in 2017, and stated - who was born in the eighties - that she is one of the last individuals who studied the Uighur language, and she is fluent in it along with the Chinese language.