Hamid Ismailov

Ismailov graduated from the military school of communication and later several departments of Tashkent University (Biology, Law, Management){{cite web|url=http://textonly.ru/self/?issue=26&article=27421|title=Хамид Исмайлов. "Ночь Предопределения" / само предлежащее / сетевой журнал TextOnly.ru, выпуск #26|website=textonly.ru|access-date=6 October 2017}}

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: [http://www.vavilon.ru/texts/ismailov/postfaustum.html "Post Faustum"] (1990), [http://library.ferghana.ru/uz/ots.htm "Книга Отсутстви"] (1992); novels [http://library.ferghana.ru/uz/ "Собрание Утончённых"] (1988), Le vagabond flamboyant (1993), Hay-ibn-Yakzan (2001), Hostage to Celestial Turks (2003), [https://crss.uz/2014/01/02/doroga-k-smerti-bolshe-chem-smert-m-kaligulaev/ "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 the 1980s he created a fictional literary group [http://library.ferghana.ru/uz/index.htm 'Conference of Refined'], consisting of successfully published and acclaimed heteronym poets, philosophers, literary critics, writers and translators.{{Cite journal | doi=10.1080/10611975.2017.1416533| title=When We Replace Our World …| journal=Russian Studies in Literature| volume=53| issue=3–4| pages=205–232| year=2017| last1=Korchagin| first1=Kirill| s2cid=194904913}}

During the same period, he wrote a great number of academic articles mostly on literature and Uzbek mentality, which later he placed on the Academia website [https://independent.academia.edu/HIsmailov].

At the beginning of the 1990s, Ismailov collaborated with French composer Michel Karsky in creating several examples of sonic or musical poetry pieces like 'Babylon eclatee' or [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFbUBx_ujl4 'Hourglass/Le pas dernier']

Ismailov's novel The Railway ({{langx|ru|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 ({{langx|ru|Алтаэр Магди}}).Diane Nemec Ignashev, review of Ismailov, The Railway, Slavic and East European Journal 51.2 (Summer 2007), p. 415. 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.{{cite web|url=http://www.glagoslav.com/en/Book/40/A-Poet-and-Bin-Laden.html|title=A Poet and Bin-Laden - Hamid Ismailov - Glagoslav Publications|website=www.glagoslav.com|access-date=6 October 2017|archive-date=23 February 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190223055334/http://www.glagoslav.com/en/Book/40/A-Poet-and-Bin-Laden.html|url-status=dead}} His triptych of novels, "Мбобо", in English The Underground (published worldwide by Restless Book,{{Cite web |url=https://www.restlessbooks.com/the-underground |title=The Underground — Restless Books |access-date=2013-12-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140116235530/http://www.restlessbooks.com/the-underground |archive-date=2014-01-16 |url-status=dead }} Googling for Soul, and Two Lost to Life have also been translated into English.

His book "The Dead Lake" (English translation of "Вундеркинд Ержан" by Andrew Bromfield) was published by Peirene Press early in 2014.{{Cite web |url=http://www.peirenepress.com/books/coming_of_age/peirene_no_13 |title=Peirene Press |access-date=2015-01-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170222234741/http://peirenepress.com/books/coming_of_age/peirene_no_13 |archive-date=2017-02-22 |url-status=dead }} His novel "The Devils' Dance", which was initially published in Uzbek, chapter by chapter, on Facebook, was acquired and published by Tilted Axis Press in 2018.{{cite web |last1=Alter |first1=Alexandra |title=Tilted Axis Press Took a Big Risk on Translated Literature. It Paid Off. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/15/books/tilted-axis-books-translation.html |website=The New York Times |access-date=15 February 2025 |date=15 February 2025}} It won the [https://www.ebrd.com/news/2019/the-devils-dance-wins-the-2019-ebrd-literature-prize-.html EBRD Literary Prize] in 2019. His novel "Manaschi", translated into English by Donald Rayfield, was published by Tilted Axis Press in 2021 (the book has not been published in the original Uzbek{{Cite web |url=https://www.themodernnovel.org/asia/central-asia/uzbekistan/ismailov/manaschi/ |title=Hamid Ismailov: Manaschi |access-date=2022-05-16 }}).

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.{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2010/04_april/29/hamid.shtml|title=BBC - Press Office - BBC World Service appoints Hamid Ismailov as Writer in Residence|website=www.bbc.co.uk|access-date=6 October 2017}}

On the 31 December 2014 Hamid Ismailov announced on his Facebook and Twitter accounts that he stops his tenure which lasted 4,5 years.{{cite web|url=https://www.facebook.com/pages/Hamid-Ismailov-BBC-World-Service-Writer-in-Residence/135274673164803?ref=bookmarks|title=Security Check Required|website=www.facebook.com|access-date=6 October 2017}}

In June 2012, Ismailov represented Uzbekistan at the [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84lal64Q5fs Poetry Parnassus] in London. He took part in many literary festivals, including Hay [https://www.hayfestival.com/p-15417-hamid-ismailov-donald-rayfield-and-john-farndon.aspx], Edinburgh [https://www.edinburghfestivalcity.com/news/459-eclectic-lineup-for-book-festivals-unbound], Brooklyn [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owaXvkI7Y9I&t=4s], Berlin [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u94DE-lfaQ0&t=4s], Lahore {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20160204130822/http://www.lahorelitfest.com/llf-2016-2/]}} and many others. In 2022 he had a US Universities literary tour, which started with a Retrospective Symposium of his work at Yale University [https://cmes.macmillan.yale.edu/event/hamid-ismailov-retrospective-symposium]. He gave lectures at a number of universities, including Ann Arbor [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFZbB-94--I&t=1981s], Chicago [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKE-Zdr0lww&t=2695s], Berkeley [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMsBgQtSkic&t=2787s], Stanford [https://events.stanford.edu/event/central_asian_literature_in_the_context_of_world_literature_ismailovs_case] and others.

Hamid fled Uzbekistan in 1992 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.{{cite web |url=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. |title = Journalism in Exile: Uzbekistan continues its bar on Hamid Ismailov - Index on Censorship Index on Censorship}} His works are still banned in the country.{{cite web |url=https://www.thenational.ae/arts-culture/books/hamid-ismailov-is-still-connected-to-uzbek-culture-despite-exile-from-his-homeland-1.940696 |title = Hamid Ismailov is still connected to 'Uzbek culture' despite exile from his homeland}} He is a vocal critic of the country's government and its poor human rights record{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jun/17/uzbekistan-writer-hamid-ismailov-exile |title = 'They're trying to erase my identity': Uzbekistan's unmentionable writer on life in exile {{!}} Uzbekistan {{!}} The Guardian| website=TheGuardian.com }} and censorship.{{cite web |url=https://www.britishcouncil.org/voices-magazine/novelist-hamid-ismailov-storytelling-social-media-censorship |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190327101033/https://www.britishcouncil.org/voices-magazine/novelist-hamid-ismailov-storytelling-social-media-censorship |archive-date=2019-03-27 |title=Novelist Hamid Ismailov on storytelling, social media and censorship {{!}} British Council}}

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

• Собрание Утончённых ("Conference of the Refined", 1988)
• Hay-ibn-Yakzan (2001). Of Strangers and Bees, trans. Shelley Fairweather-Vega (2019)
• Hostage to Celestial Turks (2003, as Nouman Smyles)
• Дорога к смерти больше чем смерть (lit. "The Road to Death Is More Than Death", 2005). A Poet and Bin-Laden, trans. Andrew Bromfield (2012)
• Железная дорога (1997). The Railway, trans. Robert Chandler (2006)
• Мбобо (2009). The Underground, trans. Carol Ermakova (2015)
• Googling for Soul (2004)
• Two Lost to Life
• Вундеркинд Ержан (lit. "Wunderkind Yerzhan", 2011). The Dead Lake, trans. Andrew Bromfield (2014)
• Jinlar basmi yoxud katta o'yin (2012). The Devils' Dance, trans. Donald Rayfield and John Farndon (2018)
• Gaia, Queen of Ants, trans. Shelley Fairweather-Vega (2020)
• Amber or Good Morning, Midnight (2020, unpublished)
• Manaschi, trans. Donald Rayfield (2021)
• Русская Матрёшка (Russian Matryoshka, to be published by Matthes&Seitz in German)
• Bizkim - komputerlar, yo dunyoning eng go’zal shoiri (We computers, trans. Shelley Fairweather-Vega, to be published 2025 by Yale University Press)
• Туш тили/Tush Tili (to be published)
• Scottish Dances or Shestory© of a Whirling Balerina (to be translated and published)

• Mashrab: Le Vagabond Flamboyant (translated from the Uzbek into French with J.-P.Balpe, 1993)
• Alisher Navoi “Ghazales” (translated from the Uzbek into French with J.-P.Balpe, 1993)
• ”Anthologie de la Poesie d’Ouzbekistan” (in 2 volumes, translated from the Uzbek into French with J.-P.Balpe, 2008)

{{Reflist}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20131208080956/http://uzbereg.ru/rb/hamid.shtml Brief Biography]

• [http://www.hamidismailov.com Official website] ({{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160721154826/http://www.hamidismailov.com:80/ |date=2016-07-21 }})
• [http://library.ferghana.ru/uz/index.htm "Conference of the Refined"] Uzbek and Russian works under a variety of pseudonyms.
• [http://www.transoxiana.org/0107/ismailov-divan_tamarit-en.html On the poetics of Lorca's "Divan of Tamarit"] by Hamid Ismailov. Translated into English by Natalya Khan & Saodat I. Bazarova. Transoxiana 7 – Diciembre 2003. Original Russian text at [http://www.transoxiana.org/0107/ismailov-divan_tamarit.html К поэтике "Дивана Тамарита" Лорки]
• Two Lost for Life (fragment)[https://ziyouz.uz/en/prose/111-hamid-ismailov-two-lost-to-life-story] -

• 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"
• {{cite web |url=https://newleftreview.org/sidecar/posts/errant-history |title=Errant History |last=Merrick |first=John |date=2022 |publisher=New Left Review |access-date=2022-08-15 }}

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Category:1954 births

Category:Living people

Category:Uzbekistani writers

Category:20th-century Uzbekistani poets

Category:Uzbekistani journalists

Category:Uzbekistani emigrants to the United Kingdom

Category:Uzbekistani male poets

Category:20th-century Uzbekistani male writers