By Orqun, May 3, 2025
Uyghur poet Tahir Hamut Izgil received Sweden’s poetry award, the Cikada Prize, at the Swedish Embassy in Washington D.C. on April 24.
Tahir Hamut Izgil posted on social media: “Today I received Sweden’s poetry award, the Cikada Prize, at the Swedish Embassy in Washington D.C. I express my gratitude to the Swedish Institute and the evaluation committee who deemed my poems worthy of this award, and to the Swedish Embassy for their warm reception.”
This is considered another significant achievement for Tahir Hamut Izgil following his receipt of the 2023 National Book Critics Circle John Leonard Prize for Best First Book, the 2024 Václav Havel International Prize for Creative Dissent, and the 2024 Moore Human Rights Writing Award.
Uyghur linguist and activist Mustafa Aksu served as interpreter at the award ceremony.
