COMPILATION OF CONTEMPORARY TURKISH POETRY
Jan 2025
The 2025 update (XI) of The MUD Proposal showcases a variegated collection of contemporary Turkish poetry with an emphasis on innovation. This rich compilation made possible by Gonca Özmen includes apart from her own, contemporary work by poets Efe Murad, Selcan Peksan, Efe Duyan, Gökçenur Ç., Nilay Özer and the late Sami Baydar and Seyhan Erözçelik. The translators of this compilation are Neil P. Doherty, Saliha Paker, Mel Kenne, Sidney Wade, Ali Alper Çakır, Gökçenur Ç., Aron Aji, Anna Wood, Buğra Giritlioğlu and Daniel Scher and Murat Nemet-Nejat.
GONCA ÖZMEN had her first poem published in literary journal Varlık in 1997. She was named 'a poet to watch in the future' at The Yaşar Nabi Nayır Youth Prizes. Her first poetry book Kuytumda [In My Nook] was published in 2000, then came Belki Sessiz [Silent Perhaps] in 2008, and Bile İsteye [Knowingly, Willingly] in 2019. Her poems have been translated into English, German, French, Spanish, Slovenian, Italian, Dutch, Romanian, Persian, Greek, Hebrew and Macedonian. Özmen was granted numerous poetry awards. She edited Çağdaş İrlanda Şiiri Seçkisi [Selection of Contemporary Irish Poetry] (Edisam, 2010) and İlhan Berks Çiğnenmiş Gül [Trampled Rose] (Yapı Kredi, 2011), a collection of unpublished poems of the poet after his death. She is currently editing the Turkish poet küçük İskenders poetry books at Can Publishing, translating the Collected Poems of Sylvia Plath, and has been living in Istanbul since 2000.
EFE MURAD is a Turkish poet, translator, and scholar of Islamic intellectual history, who is currently a researcher at Harvard University. He is the author of six books of poetry and the translator of ten more, including the first complete translation of Ezra Pounds Cantos into Turkish, as well as volumes by American poets Jack Spicer, Tom Clark, Ron Padgett, Susan Howe, Lyn Hejinian, among others. His bilingual book of poetry, Breaking of Symmetry/Simetrinin Kırılması, a found poetry collaboration with quantum physicist Sina Zeytinoğlu and poet-artist Sevinç Çalhanoğlu came out in a special edition of 400, funded by the European Union Grant Scheme for Common Cultural Heritage. One of his most recent books is a work of creative non-fiction, a volume of memoristic essay about flaneurship and poetry in Istanbul, The Pleasures of Empty Lots, published by Bored Wolves Press in 2021.
SELCAN PEKSAN was born in 1982. She is a poet, scholar, and bassist. Her three poetry collections have been published by 160. Kilometre, Nod, and Everest. One of these has appeared in English translation: Slippage (2022), published by Bored Wolves. Shes a founding editor of the online poetry fanzine Moero. Peksan is an associate professor in the School of Economics at Istanbul University.
EFE DUYAN is very widely traveled and published in Europe and the US. He received Şişli Terakki Lisesi Poetry Prize in 2017 and co-created several poetry international workshops, and the Istanbul Offline International Poetry Festival (2017), PAGE BREAK poetry Festival in Latvia (2022), Turkish-American Poetry Days (2018) and Gaziantep International Poetry Festival (2018-19). Duyan is also a translator with several collections from contemporary world poets. He directed the literature department of Nâzım Hikmet Cultural Center in Istanbul (2005-2010) and worked in the editorial committees of many literary magazines. His selected poems appeared in Chinese in Taiwan in 2021 (Poetry on the Street) and in the USA, under the title The Behavior of Words in 2023, published by White Pine Press.
GÖKÇENUR Ç. is a poet, translator, editor, and poetry activist based in Istanbul. Gökçenur has authored seven books of Turkish poetry. He has received prestigious prizes such as the Arkadaş Z. Özger Best Debut Poetry Book Prize for his first publication, and the Sabahattin Kudret Aksal Literature Prize and Metin Altıok Poetry Prize for his latest work. His Selected Poetry books has been published in English, German, Italian, Serbian, Romanian, Bulgarian. He has translated and published selected poetry books of Katerina Illiopoulou, Wallace Stevens, Paul Auster etc. and has participated and/or organized poetry translation workshops and festivals in numerous countries.
NILAY ÖZER earned her MA from Bilkent University and a PhD with a dissertation titled Images in Nâzım Hikmets Human Landscapes from My Country: Society, History, and Cinema. She teaches Turkish, Creative Writing, and Modern Turkish Literature at various universities. Nilay began publishing poetry in literary magazines such as Varlık and Ad-am Sanat since 1995. Her first book, Zamana Dağılan Nar (1999) was followed by Ol! (2004), which won the Cemal Süreya Poetry Award. Her later books include Korkuluklara Giysi Yardımı (2015), and Yüzü Kelebeklerle Örtül (2024).
SAMI BAYDAR (1962-2012) being painter first before poet, his poetry is infused with the sensibility of a painter. Baydar's poetic oeuvre in bipartisan terms consists of his first four books published between 1987 and 1996: The Gentlemen of the World (Dünya Efendileri, 1987), The Green Flame (Yesil Alev, 1991) The World Will Tell Me the Same Story (Dünya Bana Aynisini Anlatacak, 1995), The Flower Worlds (Çiçek Dünyalarm 1996) followed by a second phase consisting of two books Between Being and Not-Being (Varla Yok Arasinda, 2003) and Nicholas's Portrait (Nicholas'in Portresi, 2005). Posthumously, right after his death, Turkey's major literary publisher Yapi Kredi publishes his collected works The World's Belief (Dünya Inanci, 2012) which also includes the poems he wrote after 2005.
SEYHAN EROZÇELIK (1962-2011) was born in Bartin on the Black Sea, studied psychology at Boğaziçi University and oriental languages at Istanbul University. In 1986 he co-founded the Siir Ati (Horse of Poetry) publishing house with his friends and helped manage Şiir Atı magazine. Seyhan Erözçelik was a member of the Writers' Union of Turkey and the PEN Writers' Association. His maiden book of poetry, "Düştanbul", was published in 1982. This was followed up by Yeis ile Tabanca (Despair and Pistol, 1986) and eight subsequent collections, including Kir Aği (Hoarfrost, 1991), Gül ve Telve (ROSESTRIKES AND COFFEE GRINDS, 1997) and Şehir'de Sansar Var! (There Is a Marten in Town!, 1999). His collected poems were published in 2003 and his last book is Varidik, Yoğidik (Once We Were, We Weren't, 2006).