Waiting to Be Arrested at Night

professors and students passed by. Once Ilham got started, he was hard to stop, especially on his favorite topic, the economy and demography of the Uyghur region.

Ilham would go on to become perhaps the most prominent dissident Uyghur intellectual in China. In the mid-2000s he founded a Chinese-language website called Uyghur Online, where he published articles defending Uyghurs' legal rights. Ilham argued that the Chinese government's own autonomy policies were not being implemented in the Uyghur region; that the Production and Construction Corps in Xinjiang functioned as a lawless state within a state; that the rapid influx of Han settlers was making the region's indigenous communities into minorities in their own homeland; that Uyghurs faced crushing unemployment; that the Uyghur language had been marginalized in the educational system.

A central goal of Uyghur Online was encouraging healthy dialogue between Han and Uyghurs and strengthening interethnic understanding. The website became a hub for like-minded intellectuals and students-Uyghurs, Han, and others-and became increasingly influential abroad. My cousin had introduced me to Uyghur Online; he told me that numerous young Uyghurs had become active readers and that they often debated what they read on the site.

Needless to say, Ilham Tohti's dissenting views drew the attention of the Chinese government. The police regularly invited him to "tea," a euphemism for taking someone for an informal warning or questioning. During some sensitive periods, like the 2008 Beijing Olympics or visits by Western leaders to Beijing, police would take Ilham's family for a monthlong "vacation." In 2009, following the government's declaration that Ilham bore responsibility for the July violence in Urumchi, he and his family disappeared. People assumed Ilham had been arrested. But after a month and a half of informal detention in the Beijing suburbs, he and his family were allowe

Waiting to Be Arrested at Night serves as one of the best available histories of the genocidal policies in Xinjiang since 2015, and is especially valuable as an on-the-ground, first-person account. The story is all the more powerful for the matter-of-fact way Izgil tells it . . . We can only hope that with this translation, Izgil s gripping story and Uyghur literature generally will gain more well-deserved global attention. The Boston Globe

Izgil s memoir is a story about how to survive in, and to negotiate one s way through, a society in which repression has become routine, and the power of the state is unfettered. The book s restraint is also its strength. The tension in the narrative flows from the dread captured in the title the dread of waiting to be arrested, to be vanished into detention, a dread no Uyghur can escape. The Guardian

Tahir Hamut Izgil s recent memoir, Waiting to Be Arrested at Night, brings to life a cast of poets and intellectuals who used to meet under the cover of darkness, against the backdrop of mass detentions in Ürümqi, the capital of Xinjiang province . . . Izgil was perhaps the only Uyghur intellectual to escape the government security apparatus . . . The stories contained [here] evoke a lost world of Uyghur intellectual and family life, and chronicle its gradual erasure. Dissent Magazine
 
Tahir s book gives a sense of Uyghur cultural life on a quotidian level . . . He emphasizes both the suffering and the resilience of Uyghur communities and as a result avoids portraying the situation of Uyghurs (including himself) solely as one of victimhood . . . Tahir s memoir is powerful precisely because of its measured tone: He lets the facts speak for themselves. The Dial

[Izgil] deserves to be read and listened to widely . . . This is a beautiful read. Izgil s poetic gaze, and the elegant translation by Joshua L. Freeman, together produce a compact, compelling prose that pushes you to keep reading on, even as you blink back tears. Yuan Yang, Financial Times

Compelling . . . A vital portrait . . . Remarkable. The Times Literary Supplement

A powerful memoir . . . Compelling. Prospect

Tahir Hamut Izgil s remarkable Waiting to Be Arrested at Night . . . [has] helped me understand better what Uyghurs face under China s repressive regime and how easy it is to forget those who have disappeared into silence. Nilanjana Roy, Financial Times

In his searing and beautiful memoir, Uyghur poet Tahir Hamut Izgil recalls the onslaught of CCP repression . . . Heart-wrenching but beautifully written. The Telegraph

Waiting to Be Arrested at Night is so much more than a thrilling account of a great escape. It is nothing less than a call to the West not to look away from one of the most terrible genocides of our times. The Times (UK)

Astonishing . . . Interspersed throughout the narrative are flashes of Izgil s stunning poetry, much of it themed around diasporic rootlessness. This is a spellbinding account of personal resilience and an eye-opening exposé on the humanitarian crisis in Xinjiang. Publishers Weekly (starred review)

[Waiting to Be Arrested at Night] is lyrical, heartfelt, and perfectly paced; the narrative unfolds with a slow, simmering burn. Never shying away from vulnerability, the author shines a much-needed light on the complex, contradictory emotions of trading a homeland for a lifetime of both safety and survivor s guilt. A profoundly moving memoir about China s oppression of the Uyghurs. Kirkus (starred review)

Beautifully written . . . Izgil s writing is vivid, made even more so by the inclusion of a few of his haunting, startling poems . . . Knowing that there are so many stories we will not ever hear, it feels essential to pay attention to the words of those like Izgil who manage to make it out. BookPage (starred review)

An essential testimony to one of the defining crimes against humanity of the twenty-first century so far: China s gradually accelerating, systematic, sinisterly bureaucratic and high-tech campaign to make the Uyghur minority disappear. The poet Tahir Hamut Izgil is one of the few Uyghurs who escaped just in time to tell us. Philip Gourevitch, author of We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families

Among our scattered glimpses of the Uyghur catastrophe in China the digital surveillance, the mass arrests, the reeducation camps it seems impossible to imagine the survival of any individual creative sensibility. But Tahir Hamut Izgil is a rare artist. He records in vivid detail his fear, his resourcefulness, his loss, and his survivor s guilt the full emotional arc of a poet in flight and exile. Even if we can t comprehend why this tragedy is happening in Xinjiang, Tahir reminds us why it matters. Peter Hessler, author of River Town

This is an exceptionally powerful, profoundly lyrical, and beautifully translated book I urge you to read it. It illuminates, in unforgettable human detail and complexity, the current Chinese government s assault on Uyghur society and culture, and the urgent humanitarian crisis it has generated. Julia Lovell, author of Maoism: A Global History

Waiting to Be Arrested at Night is a terrifying, compelling read of one family s efforts to escape the jaws that were closing around them and millions of others in China s far western region of Xinjiang. Drawing the reader into a vortex of fear and suspicion, Izgil has put forth a narrative that reads like a horror novel but is more disturbing because it tells a true story of out-of-control authoritarianism. Highly recommended for general readers and anyone seeking a readable first-person account of China s surveillance state. Ian Johnson, winner of the Pulitzer Prize

Tahir Hamut Izgil s gripping book evokes haunting memories of the terror and persecution he endured in his homeland, where dreams are turned into nightmares. Despite the gravity of his account, Izgil s writing remains serene and sincere; his stories are engaging and evoke empathy. To call this merely a good book is an understatement it is essential reading. Ai Weiwei, author of 1000 Years of Joys and Sorrows
 
I was riveted and chastened by Tahir Hamut Izgil s memoir of surveillance, internment, violent persecution, and miraculous flight. The humanitarian crisis affecting China s Uyghur citizens is an indictment of all nations and all people. Izgil s crystalline, courageous prose is a wake-up call for everyone invested in the myth and also the possibility of freedom. Tracy K. Smith, former poet laureate of the United States

A vital and urgent book about the tragedy of the Uyghur people, abandoned by the world and brutally oppressed by the Chinese government. Waiting to Be Arrested at Night addresses all of the horror and pain of everyday living under occupation, without any rights, without any voice, in the 21st century. This is why the voice of Tahir Hamut Izgil is one that must be heard. Janine di Giovanni, author of The Morning They Came For Us

Elegiac and deeply courageous, a most powerful literary indictment of the unfettered power of the state. A remarkable book. Philippe Sands, author of East West Street
 
Tahir Hamut Izgil s powerful and poignant memoir is an instant classic. He lays bare the vicious genocidal persecution of the precious Uyghur people in a very personal and persuasive way. His grand poetic temperament exemplifies the unstoppable resilience of the rich Uyghur soul. Cornel West, author of Democracy Matters