October’s works are now live and can be found below and throughout the postings on the English homepage!
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.
This exchange, we hope, will create new audiences for our writers in the world arena and introduce them to a global network of the world’s literary figures.
In December, we initiated this effort with Norwegian PEN‘s lead. After PEN Germany, PEN Belgium/Flanders continued the very same role for the month of February. For March, PEN French Centre took over the role of promoting our young writers abroad. For the writings of April, we collaborated with PEN South Africa. For May, Scottish PEN took over the role of amplifying our young writers voices within their membership and audience, and PEN Catalan promoted our writers for June to their own members and audience. For July our partnership reached out to Russia, in collaboration with PEN Moscow Centre! August followed with a collaboration with PEN Canada, September with PEN Venezuela and our humble partner for the writings from October is Croatian PEN!
We are very grateful to Croatian PEN’s President Tomica Bajsić’e for agreeing and arranging for our young writers works to be published and shared among their networks and to Nina Bajsić for translating them into Croatian. The works of our writers Bilal Yıldız, Örsan Gürkan ve Gizem Pınar Karaboğa have already been published on their social media which can be accessed by the prior links under their names! We have also recieved news from the centre that there may be publishing opportunities in one of two in-print magazines based in Croatia and we will notify our readers and writers via social media when we receive further information.
Ilkyaz’s new Inıtatıve “Lıterature +” is live!
In our time where various forms of expression are expanding their cooperation with one another, İlkyaz also needs to create an innovative space for young literature. It is possible to expand the reach of literature and other styles of expression by creating a common ground between them. Keeping this aim in mind, the idea behind “Literature +” is quite simple; inviting artists to produce works inspired by İlkyaz’s writings and expanding their reach into each others expressive form. You can check out the new section here.
If you haven’t yet had a chance to read, you can reach September’s writings here.
Don’t forget to check out our writers under the age of 15, in “15-“, our archive of stories from everyday lives in “Human Portraits” and Turkey’s widely renown writer Buket Uzuner’s reading suggestions to young writers!
Gizem Pınar Karaboğa – Şiir Ortası / Mid-Poem /Srednja Pjesma
Nowadays I dream of your lips here and there untimely
The dream of tasting them under a walnut tree in Gülhane Park*…
Even worse if it’s June, especially in the afternoon!
I buried my unborn son under the walnut tree in Gezi Park**
He has my eyes, triangular, like the corner of a loaf bread
The other has your smile; warm, like puffed up doves, nestling each other
About the author:Gizem Pınar Karaboğa was born on 28th of October 1987 in İstanbul-Kadıköy. She graduated from the Fine Arts Faculty, Visual Arts department in full scholarship. Her first book Elma Kabuğu (Apple Skin) was given first prize in a competition organized by Gülten Dayıoğly Vakfı and was published by Altın Kitaplar Publishing house. She has three books published since then. Elma Kurdu, her latest children’s book was published by Yitik Ülke Yayınları on May 2017. Her first adult book called Yazılmamış Bir Kitapçık (An Unwritten Little Book) was published by Düşülke Yayınları. She is currently giving creative writing courses in Eskişehir Municipality Women Rights Support and Youth Center and she is busy with screenwriting in İstanbul at Studio Gaia.
Bilal Yıldız – Sarı Siyah / Yellowish Black / Žućkasto Crna
He falls silent again. Doesn’t talk about his father. He unplugs the machine and picks up the pipe. He covers one end with his hand and blows through the other. Success. He turns around and winks at me. I am glad. Not because he managed to fix it but because he is smiling again. A door creaking open on the floor above interrupts our happiness. A scent, slipping from jasmine settles on the worrisome part of the brain. We shudder. He tries to adjust the pipe with his shaky hands as I stiffen hearing the echoes of her heeled slippers get closer and closer.
About the author: Born in 1989 in Isparta. He works as a teacher in Istanbul. His stories have ben published in various magazines and anthologies.
Örsan Gürkan- VanCity CityVan /VanGrad GradVan
I demolished
I recuperated
It was about life
I dived exuberantly into verbs
I, without a name on concrete
I whose love and blood is medicatedCould exit only by flight, by forgetting
I embraced my naivety and my wings
I bow eternally
Before the thrill of writing,
A new form of literature
About the author: Born in 1993 in Derinkuyu. Graduated from Psychological Consultancy and Guidence at Dokuz Eylül University. Currently works as a Guidence Teacher. Since 2011, his writings have been published by various magazines and platforms such as Akköy, Bireylikler, Akatalpa, Sincan İstasyonu, Başka Dünyalar, Varlık, Aksisanat, Amanos,Lacivert, Koza Düşünce, Şiiri Özlüyorum, Mavi-Yeşil, Kıyıdili, Tmolos, Başka Peron. He was in the editorial
board of Koza Düşünce magazine. He has a poetry book published called “Kimlik No Yaması”. Outside of poetry, he is working on descriptive, auto-biographical writings, experimentative essays and short story files. He has focused his efforts on improving his interest in art as a whole, with a focus on his poems.
