Uzbekistan’s Youth Affairs Agency was established in 2020 to develop young people’s intellectual and creative potential and to support and effectively address issues in Uzbekistan’s youth sector. One of the agency’s projects is the “Yoshlar uchun ming kitob” – “Thousand Books for Youth” – also known as the 1000KITOB project. The project was launched to support young people’s intellectual development by translating major scientific and literary works directly from their original languages into Uzbek. It also seeks to strengthen the country’s translation tradition and expand the capacity of the Uzbek language as a language of modern scholarship, scientific thought, and knowledge.

In addition, the project aims to promote and popularize reading and broaden readers’ perspectives. However, no matter how much a state actively tries to foster a reading culture, young people’s reading habits are ultimately shaped by their own interests and needs. 

If reading is fundamentally a voluntary act, how can state-led initiatives like this one successfully promote a reading culture among youth? As an intern on this project, I worked closely with the project head and several editors, participating in discussions about book selection and translation.

“The project primarily aims to address the shortage of popular science books in the Uzbek language,” the head of the project, Jamshid Egamberganov, said in an interview with The Diplomat. He argued that publishing such books is not always profitable for publishers, and the market has not given this area sufficient attention. Therefore, the government is stepping in to support the translation and publication of important works. . 

“The project selects books from different fields, whether it’s the humanities or technology. After these books are translated and published by the state, the translations are provided to publishers free of charge for further publishing purposes,” explained Egamberganov. 

The project licenses translations and copyrights from reputable publishers, including Oxford University Press and Cambridge University Press. According to the presidential decree that established the project, an expert council compiles a preliminary list of books annually, which is then offered for public review and selection. The council then reviews and approves a final list.

The books are distributed to information institutions and libraries, including those of government agencies and administrative bodies. To broaden the project’s reach, the Youth Affairs Agency also provides electronic copies through its reading app, Mutolaa (from the Arabic word for “reading”). According to Egamberganov, 140,000 copies of 47 different books have been distributed to libraries, and 33 books have been uploaded to the Mutolaa app. 

According to data from the Mutolaa team, the app is currently used by more than 4.8 million people. Between September 2025 and July 2026, more than 25,000 people read e-books through the “Thousand Books for Youth” project. Among the books provided by the project, the three most-read titles are “Psychology,” “Philosophy,” and “Politics” from Oxford University Press’s Very Short Introductions series.

“People usually learn about newly published translations through social media and book launch events,” Egamberganov said. 

Zuhra Turdibekova, a student at the Tashkent Institute of Irrigation and Agricultural Mechanization Engineers, shared her experience with the project. She said she had been looking for a book on ethnology when she discovered that one was available through the Thousand Books project. For her, being able to read a book on the subject in Uzbek was very meaningful.

The Thousand Books for Youth project could also help the Uzbek language move beyond everyday communication and creates opportunities for its use in academic settings and discussions. The project acknowledges that major advanced works are mostly available in Russian or English. It also notes a shortage of translators capable of handling complex books and few publishing houses able to prepare them for publication. The Uzbek language received limited attention for many years and relatively little credible academic and scientific knowledge was produced in it. The Thousand Books for Youth project seeks to address this gap. 

There are, however, several challenges in both translation and conceptualization of the project. 

One of the most common problems in Uzbek translation, according to the project’s chief editor, Akmal Jumamurodov, is translating words without losing their meaning. A translation may be technically correct in Uzbek, but may still fail to sound natural to an Uzbek reader. 

“In the project Thousand Books for Youth, we do not view translation simply as transferring a text from one language to another. Rather, we see it as the process of conveying the author’s ideas, style, and spirit of the work to the Uzbek reader clearly and naturally. This is why every book goes through several stages, including translation, editing, and expert review,” Jumamurodov explained. “The sign of a good translation is that a reader should feel as if the work was written in Uzbek, and not that he is reading a translation.”

According to Nazarbek Nazarov, another project editor, the “best” books are selected by a board of experts representing a range of fields and disciplines. Each member, Nazarov said, is an experienced and widely recognized specialist in their field.

“Each member of the expert board recommends the best books in their field, and a list is compiled based on their recommendations. The most significant books are then selected from this longlist,” Nazarov said. “The books selected are primarily those that have already received recognition from the global scientific community or have been deemed worthy of awards.”

This raises an important question: what exactly makes a book one of the “best”? 

Expert recommendations, international recognition, and awards provide a good basis for selection, but they do not necessarily form a clearly defined intellectual framework. Without a clear concept outlining the knowledge the project aims to introduce, why particular works matter for Uzbek readers, and what gaps it intends to fill, the category of “best books” may become too broad. International recognition may be a valuable indicator of a book’s importance, but it alone does not explain why that particular work should be prioritized for translation into Uzbek. 

Also, any dominant standard comes with its own intellectual traditions and assumptions. This can narrow the range of perspectives available to Uzbek readers. Ideas considered the “best” in Western academic and literary traditions reflect a specific intellectual context. If these standards are the primary basis for selecting books, less attention may be given to perspectives rooted in Muslim, Eastern, or other intellectual traditions that could benefit Uzbek readers.

Another editor on the project, Odilkhon Orifjonov, noted that another problem in translation work is the stagnation of the Uzbek language. 

“Contemporary international works try to make sense of the world through the lens of postmodern realities, technology, and artificial intelligence, but new words aren’t being coined and added to the Uzbek lexicon at a fast enough pace to keep up,” said Orifjonov. 

Orifjonov mentioned similar issue that stems from the same root: consistent terminology hasn’t been developed for narrow specialized fields. 

“As a result, Uzbek translations end up mixing pure Uzbek words with foreign terms that feel alien to Uzbek readers, producing an archaic patchwork,” Orifjonov explained.

Orifjonov’s expression “archaic patchwork” is particularly interesting. For a translator or an editor reviewing a book, it is essential to understand the book’s logical and philosophical content. Only then can the book be translated well into Uzbek. This contextual understanding is reflected in the translator’s ability to choose words and expressions and construct meaningful, coherent sentences.

In this sense, it also ties back to the argument that books should be translated within a certain conceptual framework. Without a clear guiding idea behind the selection and translation of books, it may be harder for those books to find their place in society and reach their intended readers. The project aims to promote reading among young people and support their intellectual development, but the broader conceptual framework guiding these efforts remains open. It remains unclear what intellectual or cultural direction the selected translations are intended to offer readers. 

Thousand Books project manager Sobir Kuldashev said they have designed research to identify barriers to developing a stronger reading culture among the population. However, it remains uncertain if the research will be funded.

The project head, Egamberganov, emphasized that this it is a long-term initiative. In the future, he said, the impact will be reflected in growing interest among young people in scientific and academic work as they make use of the translated books. He added that if translation quality declines or readers cannot use the books effectively and productively, the project could fail to meet its aims. 

The state hopes to create opportunities for young people by providing access to high-quality translations and encouraging critical thinking.  However, authorities can only create the conditions necessary to build a reading culture among people. Just as any culture is shaped by society, a reading culture can only be shaped by people themselves. For people to begin reading voluntarily, reading itself must become connected to their values and moral outlook. An abundance of books is necessary but not sufficient to create a reading culture.