THOSE WHO SHOULD BE SEIZED SHOULD BE SEIZED

The Uyghurs: we've been alarmed by the headlines and intrigued by the news stories. But who are they, and why is the Chinese government persecuting them?

In BECOMING FAMILY, award-winning journalist John Beck will recount China's persecution of the Uyghurs in Xinjiang and beyond its borders through the voices of the few who have escaped it. Using a patchwork of distinct yet intertwined literary narratives combined with original source material, such as Chinese Communist Party directives and speeches, he will piece together the shared history of what consecutive US administrations have described as genocide. Chapters will follow a number of different characters caught up in the crackdown. Most have spent time in prison or in re-education camps but have been able to flee abroad. There, cut off from everything and everyone they had known, they have discovered that they are still being pursued but have become part of a tiny community able to speak of the horrors unfolding at home. John Beck has been in close contact with Istanbul's Uyghur diaspora since 2014. Over the past two years he has reported on Chinese authorities' persecution of exiles in the city and further afield, carrying out in-depth interviews with members of the community. That will form the basis of the book, along with further reporting carried out this year. While the abuses in Xinjiang have garnered extensive media coverage, there has been far less focus on individual voices and on China's expanding reach and influence abroad. John Beck is an award-winning journalist whose work focuses on conflict and human rights issues. Based in Istanbul, he has reported from Turkey and the wider region since 2013, including two years spent as VICE News's Middle East correspondent. His longform writing has since appeared in GQ, Wired, National Geographic, Businessweek, The Atlantic and The Sunday Times Magazine and he has also worked with outlets including The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Associated Press and the BBC. He won the 2017 Kurt Schork Memorial Award as well as the 2019 Daniel Pearl Investigative Journalism fellowship and his work has been shortlisted for the Bayeux-Calvados Awards for war correspondents, One World Media Awards and Amnesty International Media Awards among others. He is a Pulitzer Centre for Crisis Reporting grantee and has discussed his reporting on television and radio. BECOMING FAMILY is his first book.