İlkyaz’s new 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 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.
Before the COVID pandemic hit, we also worked to translate our young writers works into a third language, by establishing collaborations with PEN centre’s all over the world.
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, October with Croatian PEN, and November with PEN Wales/Cymru.For our December writings our partner was Danish PEN, for the month of January it was Belarusian PEN.
We apologise that due to the global effect coronavirus outbreak we have been unable to find more PEN Centre’s to collaborate with. Thus, after ensuring publishing for our writers in 14 countries, able to meet readers in their respective languages, we are moving to explore different avenues of collaboration with PEN’s global network such as joint online events and writing collaborations.
In the meantime, we will continue to work to get the voices of our young writers amplified beyond Turkey by continuing to translate them to English and distribute among PEN networks.
Along with our new issue, we also introduce our new logo, with our heartfelt gratitude to designer Vardal Caniş for her efforts!
If you haven’t yet had a chance to read, you can reach the last issue’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 the collaborative work of young writers and artists at “Literature +!
This month’s recommendations for young writers comes from one of the most renown and respected Turkish writer’s Latife Tekin!
You can also follow our collective, collaborative music playlist on Spotify! We thank Victoria Wegner for copy editing our translations.
Şimal Yanpınar – İki Buçuğa Simit / A Simit For Two and a Half Liras
When it came to our mind that we were also living souls and human beings, we would visit Kemal Abi’s buffet across the road, fill our bags with goods and take the ferry to the islands* or the European side. Tea was our only comfort. Oh, and when we lit some cigarettes alongside… Then I would feel like I was back in my village, beside my mother, listening to my father humming to a folk song. Then all of a sudden, I would shift back to my real life in İstanbul, to the sound of seagull screams, ferry horns and young people’s laughter. I would lean on Kemal Abi.
About the author: Ben Şimal Yanpınar. 19.03.1999 tarihinde Bursa şehrinde dünyaya geldim. Btso Ali Osman Sönmez Sosyal Bilimler lisesinden 2018 yılında mezun oldum. Şu anda İstanbul Üniversitesi Siyaset Bilimi ve Uluslararası İlişkiler ikinci sınıf öğrencisiyim. Aynı zamanda İstanbul Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi Sosyoloji bölümünde yan dal yapmaktayım. Okuma ve yazmayı öğrendiğim günden beri, büyük bir tutkuyla daimi bir okur-yazarım. Toplumcu gerçekçi yazar ve şairlere büyük ilgi duymaktayım ve eserlerini örnek almaktayım. Sosyal sorumluluk projeleri ve gönüllülük faaliyetleri ile de yakından ilgileniyorum. Dergice.com da içerik yazarlığı; EkipNetwork ve İçerikler.com da ise serbest zamanlı metin yazarlığı yapmaktayım. Sanata ve sanatla ilgili olana büyük bir ilgi hayranlık beslerken, bir toplumun daima sanata içkin olması gerektiğini düşünenlerdenim. Araştırmayı, sorgulamayı ve eleştirmeyi seviyorum. Her zaman eşitsizlikler ve haksızlıklar karşısında mücadele etmekten, ihtiyacı olanlara yardım etmekten ve kadının toplumdaki rolünü ve yerini güncellemekten yanayım. Tüm okur-yazarlara bu ışıklarını ve öğrenme heveslerini yitirmeyecekleri günler dilerim.
İnstagram: Şimal Yanpınar
Twiter: simaltivit
Kerime Sak – Bir Akşamüstü / An Afternoon
His ears caught a speech of a convict, whose derangement was clear from head to toe – in a baby voice, he started telling a tale that a whale was the protagonist. Since everyone had heard this tale numerous times, no one listened to his loud voice. The commotion of conversations across the ward accompanied this crazy town crier.
About the author: Kerime Sak 1994’te Van’da doğdu. Boğaziçi Üniversitesi Okul Öncesi Öğretmenliğinden 2017’de mezun oldu. 2020’de Marmara Üniversitesi Uluslararası Karşılaştırmalı Eğitim alanında yüksek lisansa başladı. Dövüş sanatlarıyla, Türkçe ve İngilizce hikâye, şiir, senaryo yazıcılığıyla, karikatür çizimleriyle hobi olarak uğraşmakta.
Ali Osman Taşlı – Tahmin/ Prediction
Violin solo, slight improvisation, iron chair
Surely this is some girl’s favourite song
This is the most pedestal difference between a knight and a peasant
May my cheap tobacco be wrapped in expansive rolling papers.
About the author:Ali Osman Taşlı was born in bursa in 1997. After completing his primary and secondary education there, he started studying at Eskişehir Anadolu University Film and Television department. He took part in the theatre productions at Anadolu University Bursa Culture and Arts Association. He is continuing his education in Film and Television.
