The Department of English Translation and Interpreting at Üsküdar University’s Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences organized an event titled “Poets Translating Poets: Turkish Poetry in Translation” as part of the 100th Anniversary of the Republic celebrations. Translator Mete Özel and Translator Jeffrey Kahrs participated as guests at the event.
The event, moderated by Dr. Başak Ergil, a faculty member at Üsküdar University’s Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Department of English Translation and Interpreting, saw high participation.
The event, held in the Ibn Sina conference hall at the Southern Campus, began with bilingual poetry readings. Poems by contemporary Turkish poets and their English translations were read by students from the Department of English Translation and Interpreting.
During the event, the speakers shared their experiences of translating together, their translation processes, decisions, and their communication with poets.
Special Techniques Proposed for Literary Translation
The poet-translators, who stated they are preparing an anthology on contemporary Turkish women poets, gave general advice on literary translation and proposed special techniques to aspiring student translators.
The event, which also saw participation from Translation Studies and English Literature students from various universities such as Yeditepe University and İstanbul Yeni Yüzyıl University, included a Q&A session.
The event concluded with the presentation of a certificate of appreciation and a plaque by Dr. Nafi Yalçın, Head of the Department of English Translation and Interpreting at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences.