Alex Ulko is a linguist, art critic, filmmaker, and writer. He taught English at the University of Samarkand, Uzbekistan for ten years and became the first Hornby Scholar from Uzbekistan to obtain an MEd TTELT degree from the College of St. Mark and St. John in the UK. Since 2003, he has been an independent consultant in English-language teacher training, a translator, and a writer on contemporary Central Asian culture and art.