Aslı Erdoğan
Aslı Erdoğan (born 1967) is a prize-winning Turkish writer, human rights activist and former columnist for the newspaper Radikal, whose second novel has been published in English Language translation.[1][2]
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Biography
Born in Istanbul, she graduated from Robert College in 1983 and the Computer Engineering Department of Boğaziçi University in 1988. She worked at CERN as a particle physicist from 1991 to 1993 and received an MSc in physics from Boğaziçi University as a result of her research there. She began research for a PhD in physics in Rio de Janeiro before returning to Turkey to become a full-time writer in 1996.[3]
Her first story The Final Farewell Note won third prize in the 1990 Yunus Nadi Writing Competition. Her first novel, Kabuk Adam (Crust Man), was published in 1994 and was followed by, Mucizevi Mandarin (Miraculous Mandarin) a series of interconnected short stories in 1996. Her short story Wooden Birds received first prize from Deutsche Welle radio in a 1997 competition and her second novel, Kirmizi Pelerinli Kent (The City in Crimson Cloak), received numerous accolades abroad and has been published in English Language translation.[4]
She was the Turkish representative of International PEN's Writers in Prison Committee from 1998 to 2000. She also wrote a column entitled The Others for the Turkish newspaper Radikal, the articles from which were later collected and published as the book Bir Yolculuk Ne Zaman Biter (When a Journey Ends) and featured in the 2004 edition of M.E.E.T.'s journal.[5]
She is widely traveled and has an interest in anthropology and Native American culture.
From December 2011 to May 2012, at the invitation of the Literaturhaus Zurich and the PWG Foundation, Erdoğan was Zurich's "writer in residence".
English language bibliography
One of Erdoğan's novels has been published in English translation.
The City in Crimson Cloak
The City in Crimson Cloak (Turkish title: Kirmizi Pelerinli Kent) is a 1998 novel by Turkish writer Aslı Erdoğan, which was republished in 2007 by Soft Skull Press in English translation by Amy Spangler.[1]
Özgür, the young Turkish protagonist of the story, having deserted her past and secluded herself from outer world, is poor, hungry, and on the verge of a mental breakdown. She has a single weapon left in the all-out war she has declared against Rio de Janeiro: to write the city, which has trapped her and robbed her of everything.
Amy Benfer, writing for Barnes & Noble, states, "The novel might have been richer had Erdogan taken advantage of the structure to interrogate Ozgur's motives and perceptions more fully than Ozgur herself can. But it does succeed as a sort of reverse postcard - the hazards of the tropics seen in the eyes of a woman from winter climes."[6]
Editions
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On-line translations
- Wooden Birds by Aslı Erdoğan at Boğaziçi University [1] and Words Without Borders [2]
- Extract from Miraculous Mandarin by Aslı Erdoğan at Boğaziçi University [3]
External links
- Official web pages of Aslı Erdoğan [4]
- We Left a Deep Invisible Mark Behind Us by Aslı Erdoğan at Eurozine [5] and icorn.org [6]
References
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