As İlkyaz, we work to introduce three young writers every month We translate these works, which are be made up of a short stories or poems, into English and endeavour to introduce them to readers outside of Turkey.
February’s works are now live and can be found below.
We also aim for a PEN Centre located in a different country around the world to translate the selected writers into their local language and share their works. We are very grateful to PEN Belgium/Flanders who will be promoting our writer’s pieces for the coming month of February. We thank PEN Belgium/Flanders and our translator Hanneke van der Heijden dearly for their diligent work.
If you haven’t yet had a chance to read, you can reach January’s works here.
Don’t forget to check out our writers under the age of 15, Nilay Saraçoğlu and Emre Dingeç in “15-“, a story from Murat Kul’s life in “Human Portraits”, and renown author and PEN International board member Burhan Sönmez’s reading suggestions to young writers.
You can also keep up with new shares on our blog, our music playlist and new entries on our main page.
Nur Akpınar – Dürtü / Impulse /Impuls
“She let her head fall back and closed her eyes. This also lasted only for a second. It was for the best if she just left. Apparently, no one was coming by, as usual. As she was leaning to shut down the computer, she heard a noise. She listened carefully. Yes, it was no mistake. There were footsteps outside. She eyed the desk quickly and tossed the taped charger with a rattled cable inside the drawer. She placed the half-full water bottle behind the computer and put two books on the bookshelf. Now pencil racks, post-its, the notebook with an orange lid and an old and forgotten printer was all that was left on her desk. The footsteps got closer and halted by the door. This person was definitely here to see her since all the other rooms on the aisle were empty. Could this be the customer she was expecting for a long time?”
About the author:
I was born in one of the coldest cities in Turkey. I lived there until college. I went abroad for a semester to a language course. After completing course, I came back to Turkey and prepared for the university entrance exams. I got accepted into the psychology department in a foundation University in İstanbul with a full scholarship and completed a master’s degree in clinical psychology. I worked as an intern in various pre-schools and psychiatric hospitals. For the last three years I have been working as a research associate in the oldest university in my hometown and as a clinical psychologist at a psychological guidance and counseling center. I do not have a published book apart from my short stories which were published in local magazines. My dystopian novel is currently being translated and my short story book is in editorial process.
Sinan Onur – Aralık ve Dem / November and Breath / December en Een Dıepe Teug
Somehow I still have my marbles.
That is I am marooned
I passed through rains reminiscent of destiny,
Velvet coloured houses, -where I let fights fall
Through schools tattered by dusted paths,
Anxious Sunday breakfasts,
Decaying drapes, couches
Through fog stained glasses I’ve come.
And this is why I hold a reckless restlessness
That falls but won’t break
About the author:Born 4 August 1995 in Antalya, Sinan Onur completed his high school in Antalya Akdeniz Anadolu High School. He completed his graduation from East Mediterranean University “Psychological Consultancy and Guidance” department. His poems have been published in magazines such as Bireylikler, Peyniraltı Edebiyatı, Çağdaş Türk Dili, and Lacivert. In January 2018 he published his first book “Season of Dead Ants”. The book went on to receive the “Seyhan Erözçelik First Book Prize” at Tüyap Book Fair. Sinan Onur resides in Antalya works as a guidance teacher and a copy writer.
(The picture is drawn by the author) Ahmet Yasin Yılmaz – Bu Yöndeki Son İstasyon / Last Station In This Direction /Het Laatste Station In Deze Richting
Even if you’re new to a town, you wouldn’t need a mindful effort to get off the vagon and find the way out. You only need to go with the flow of the crowd. That’s what he did. Approaching to the exit alongside with hundreds of people, he slowed down and watched how the waggons they left empty got bulged with people all over again. Not a single person was left at the platform. A man came running down the stairs and realized he missed the train. He carefully examined the man’s face. Did his face also gained the same expression when he missed the train by seconds, who knows? It was possible to divide the world in two parts; people who waited on the right side of the stairs and the ones who chose to climb them. Some of us are always in a hurry.”
About the author: Ahmet Yasin Yılmaz was born in 1985 in Erzurum, Turkey. He grew up in his hometown Rize. After studying in the Black Sea Technical University and graduating from the Turkish teaching department, he picked up his hobby graphic design for a profession. The attached visual to the story is his drawing. He continues graphic and web design in the technology sector. He loves surveying the flow of life around him with a cinematographic eye and wants to freeze and capture these moments in the capsules of words.
