Birhan Keskin Turkey

Birhan Keskin was born in Kirklareli, Turkey, in 1963. She graduated from Istanbul University with a degree in Sociology and her first poems began to appear in 1984. From 1995 to 1998 she was joint editor of the small magazine Göçebe and worked as an editor for a number of prominent publishing houses in Istanbul.

She has published over seven collections of poetry in Turkish, the most recent of which, Y’ol (2006) and Soguk Kazi (2010), are not included in & Silk & Love & Flame. She has seen a collection of critical responses to her poetry published – Birhan Keskin Siiri ve Ba (2008) (Birhan Keskin: Poetry and Ba) – and a detailed critical analysis of her poems by Veysi Erdogan, Aklin Azabi: Birhan Keskin Siirinde Hatira Medeniyeti (2012) (The Pain of Reason: the Civilization of Memory in Birhan Keskin's Poetry). Birhan Keskin was the 2005 winner of Turkey’s prestigious Golden Orange Award and she recieved the 2011 Metin Altiok Poetry Award.

This is the first book-length translation of Birhan Keskin’s poems into English.

(2013)