Muyesser Abdul'ehed

Muyesser was born in Ghulja, a city in the north of Uyghur Autonomous region of Xinjiang in today's People's Republic China in the mid-1980s.^[1] She studied medicine at Peking University, followed by an MA in Public Health, from a Malaysian university.^[1] During her undergraduate degree she began to write poetry and following her postgraduate degree decided to pursue a career in creative writing.^[1]

In 2013, Muyesser moved to Turkey and established the organisation Ayhan Education, whose purpose is to foster the Uyghur language in diaspora communities.^[1] Their work includes publishing a Uyghur language magazine written by children, aimed at their peers.^[2] The magazine is called Four Leaf Clover.^[3] Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Hendan taught in-person language lessons, but since then has moved to digital tuition and reached more students as a result.^[2]

Muyesser's writing focuses on the experience of Uyghur people forced to live in internment camps.^[1] Her novel Kheyr-khosh, quyash (Farewell to the Sun) is the first novel to describe Uyghur internment camps.^[1] Some of her work focuses on women's experiences, including a poem from the perspective of a wife whose husband is interned.^[4]

As of 2020, Hendan lived in Istanbul.^[1] She has spoken out about how her father expected the family to be imprisoned due to civil unrest.^[5] She lost contact with her family in 2017 and she has spoken about her feelings of survivor guilt.^[6] Her family were forced to cease contact with her due to pressure from the authoritarian state in China, where even being in contact with a relative abroad is a reason for arrest.^[7] She believes her cousin, Erpat Ablekrem - a professional football player, was interned as a result of contact with her.^[7]

She was on the list of the BBC's 100 Women announced on 23 November 2020.^[8]

• Kheyr-khosh, quyash (2020)^[1]
• Missing you is painful (2012)^[9]