Uyghurland, the Farthest Exile: The Furthest Exile - Paperback

Uyghurland, the Farthest Exile by Ahmatjan Osman

Uyghurland, the Farthest Exile presents over two decades of poetry by Ahmatjan Osman, the foremost Uyghur poet of his generation. Translated by Jeffrey Yang from the Uyghur and Arabic, this groundbreaking collection marks the first-ever translation of Uyghur poetry into English.

Osman's work channels ancestral voices alongside modernist influences like Mallarmé and Rimbaud, creating a unique lyric voice that captures the sacred and philosophical, the ineffable and transient. His poetry bridges classical Uyghur traditions with contemporary modernist movements, drawing from sources as diverse as 18th-century Sufi poet Meshrep and Syrian poet Adonis.

About the Poet

Born in 1964 in Urumqi, the capital of East Turkistan, Ahmatjan Osman became one of the first Uyghur students to study abroad after the Cultural Revolution ended. He spent several years at Damascus University in Syria studying Arabic literature, an experience that profoundly shaped his bilingual literary practice.

Osman writes in both Uyghur and Arabic and has translated numerous poets into Uyghur, including Octavio Paz, Paul Celan, Fernando Pessoa, and Adonis. Recognized as a founder of the New Poetry movement that emerged in Uyghur literary circles during the 1980s, he has authored eight poetry collections published in Syria and Xinjiang.

About the Translator

Jeffrey Yang is an accomplished poet and translator, author of Vanishing-Line and An Aquarium. His translation work includes Su Shi's East Slope and Liu Xiaobo's June Fourth Elegies. Yang serves as editor at New Directions Publishing and New York Review Books, and edited Two Lines: Some Kind of Beautiful Signal, which featured a special section on Uyghur poetry.

Literary Significance

This collection represents a historic milestone in literary translation, making Uyghur poetry accessible to English readers for the first time. Osman's work encompasses modernist experimentation while maintaining deep roots in Central Asian literary traditions, offering readers a window into a rarely translated poetic tradition that spans classical Sufism to contemporary avant-garde expression.