Join us for a relaxed and thoughtful English-language book club session designed for young readers, students, and emerging thinkers interested in the culture, society, and history of Central Asia.
Date: 15.05.2026
Time: 4 pm, Almaty time
Venue: 1000Kitap, 101/1 Kazhymukan str., Almaty.
This session will center on The Railway (1999), one of Hamid Ismailov’s best-known novels. Born in what is now Kyrgyzstan and writing primarily in Uzbek and Russian, Ismailov is widely regarded as one of Central Asia’s leading contemporary writers. Set in the fictional town of Gilas, the novel explores the social and political transformations that reshaped Central Asia during the 20th century.
Optional prep: Please, skim through Obid-Kori’s story (Chapter 6 and 12), the pilgrimage episode (Chapter 11), or the story of Oktam-Humble-Russky (Chapter 2). During the meeting, we will read and discuss selected excerpts from these chapters and a few others.
The discussion will be led by Antoine Magnier, intern at CAPS Unlock.
Hamid Ismailov’s The Railway offers one of the most vivid literary portraits of Central Asia in the 20th century. Set in the fictional town of Gilas in Uzbekistan, the novel follows the lives of ordinary people as they navigate revolution, Soviet rule, war, migration, and independence.
For CAPS Unlock, the book reflects a core belief: that Central Asia is best understood through voices from within the region. Ismailov presents Central Asia not as a collection of separate states, but as a deeply interconnected space shaped by shared histories, cultures, and experiences.
At the centre of the novel stands the railway station. More than a transport hub, it serves as a window onto the transformations that reshaped the region over generations. Through the people who pass through it, readers encounter the diversity, tensions and aspirations that have defined Central Asian society.
This is a participatory session — coffee, conversation, and collective thinking in a relaxed bookshop setting.
Let’s meet, read together, and talk openly. See you there!
Register and find the reading material here
