"Every year, the Havel Prize celebrates individuals who, with courage and creativity, expose tyranny and embody the concept of 'Living in Truth,' as relevant today as when Václav Havel articulated it nearly 45 years ago," said Human Rights Foundation (HRF) founder Thor Halvorssen, quoted in a statement by the Portuguese publisher Bertrand Círculo released today.

Thor Halvorssen called Tahir Hamut Izgil's work "an extraordinary testament to bravery and creativity."

Tahir Hamut Izgil was honored alongside Iranian hip-hop artist Toomaj Salehi and Venezuelan pianist and composer Gabriela Montero.

The award will be presented on June 4 at the Oslo Freedom Forum, which will take place at the Konserthus in the Norwegian capital.

Following the ceremony, Gabriela Montero will perform her latest composition, "Canaima: A Quintet for Piano and Strings," accompanied by the Calidore String Quartet.

Tahir Hamut Izgil, "one of the most notable modernist poets in the Uyghur language," according to the Portuguese publisher, was born in 1969 on the outskirts of the city of Kashgar, in the southwest of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China.

He attended university in Beijing and worked as a filmmaker in the Uyghur region from the late 1990s. The poet currently lives in exile in the United States.

"Waiting for the Night: A Uyghur's Story of Friendship and Freedom in the Shadow of China's Surveillance State" was published in April last year by Temas e Debates of the Bertrand Círculo group.

The book tells the first-hand story of the Chinese government's repression and violence against the Uyghur people, an ethnic minority in northwestern China, and was considered one of the best books of the year by The New York Times and The Washington Post.

It also won the John Leonard Prize last year, awarded annually by the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) for the best literary debut in any genre.

The Václav Havel International Prize for Creative Dissent was created in 2012 by HRF. It has since recognized the work of 26 artists.

The award is named after the Czech poet, playwright, and former president Václav Havel, a decisive figure in the so-called Velvet Revolution, which overthrew the Moscow-loyal government of the former Czechoslovakia in 1989 and paved the way for democracy, "creatively challenging arbitrary power and injustice in his country," as stated in the biography available on the foundation's website.

Václav Havel was on HRF's board of directors, and the award was created with the support of the writer's widow, Dagmar Havlová.

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