Talât Sait Halman Translation Award introduced

ISTANBUL

Talât Sait Halman. Hürriyet Photo

Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV) has introduced an award to support outstanding translations of literary works, including but not limited to poetry, short stories and novels, in honor of Turkey’s first minister of culture.

The Talât Sait Halman Translation Award will be given out annually by İKSV and has been established to honor Talât Sait Halman, Turkey’s first minister of culture and the president of İKSV’s Board of Trustees between 2008 and 2014, who passed away last year.

Both publishers and translators can apply for the award with literary works translated into Turkish from any language. Books translated within the same calendar year as the award will be eligible. 

The selection committee will determine the winning translator, who will be presented with an award of 15,000 Turkish Liras. 

Headed by author Doğan Hızlan, the Talât Sait Halman Translation Award Selection Committee consists of author, translator, and critic Sevin Okyay, author and translator Ahmet Cemal, author and translator Yiğit Bener, and author Kaya Genç. The jury’s decision will be announced in December this year. 

Halman has published 75 books, 30 of which were in English, along with over 3,000 articles, studies, newspaper columns and essays in English and Turkish. His vast translations include major literary works from classical and modern Turkish literature.

Halman’s awards include many literary prizes, honorary doctorates from Boğaziçi University and Ankara University, the UNESCO Medal, Columbia University’s Thornton Wilder Prize for Translation, the Most Successful Turkish Scholar in the U.S. Award, the Distinguished Service Award of the Turkish Academy of Sciences and of the Turkish Foreign Ministry and Knight Grand Cross (GBE), the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, conferred on him by Queen Elizabeth II.

Detailed information about the application process is available at iksv.org.