Aziz Isa Elkun is a poet, author and academic. He was born in Shayar County in Uyghuristan (East Turkistan), and graduated from Urumchi University. He has been living in London since 2001, where he studied at Birkbeck University. He has published many poems, stories, and research articles in both Uyghur and and English.
Since 2013, he has participated in various research projects on Uyghur culture and music as a researcher at SOAS University of London, including the ‘Sounding Islam China‘ project in 2013 and the ‘Uyghur Meshrep in Kazakhstan’ project in 2018.
He is an active member of the exiled Uyghur community and the founder of the Uyghur music group London Uyghur Ensemble, established in 2006. In early 2019, he produced a short documentary film, “An Unanswered Telephone Call”, depicting the ongoing sufferings of his family after China pursued a total blockade of international telephone calls between Uyghurs at home and abroad since 2017.
He has co-authored English language articles with Rachel Harris, in Inner Asia and Central Asian Survey (‘Invitation to a Mourning Ceremony’: Perspectives on the Uyghur Internet and ‘Islam by Smartphone: the changing sounds of Uyghur religiosity’) and ‘Islam by smartphone: reading the Uyghur Islamic revival on WeChat’, Central Asian Survey 38(1), 2019, 61-80; co-authored a research report with Rachel Harris published by Uyghur Human Rights Project February 2023 (The Complicity of Heritage: Cultural Heritage and Genocide in the Uyghur Region); a book chapter published by The Routledge in 2022, “The Routledge Companion to Music and Human Rights” (‘Music, Terror, and Civilizing Projects in China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region’).
One of his major editing and poetry translation works is the “Uyghur Poems” anthology, which was published by the UK Everyman’s Library, an imprint of Penguin Random House, on 7 November 2023. He is a member of the English PEN. First Anthology of Uyghur Poetry in English. 1: Poets Sing of a Fight for Freedom; First Anthology of Uyghur Poetry in English. 2: The Time of Tragedy; Roses (published by Los Angeles Review of Books January 2022)
In September 2024, Elkun’s debut poetry collection “Çimenkuş” (A Flower Bird) translated from Uyghur to Turkish by Amina Wayit Sedef, was published by Önce Kitap Publishers in Türkiye. https://www.astanayayinlari.com/cimenkus-aziz-isa-elkun-siir-kitabi-2024
Since April 2025, he has also been serving as President of the Uyghur PEN Centre. He is a member of English PEN. You can read poetry, academic and other literary works from his personal blog: www.azizisa.org/en