PICT Translations Featured by Boston University

The Geddes Language Center at Boston University has launched a new website entitled Artichoke: Ottoman & Turkish Literature in English Translation. The website prominently features the translation work of PICT faculty members Evrim Emir-Sayers and David Selim Sayers as published in the PICT journals dePICTions and The Faculty Lounge.

Since 2022, Evrim and David have been translating the work of Turkish literary figures such as Ahmed Arif, Aşık Veysel, Heijan, and Nazım Hikmet, as well as works from the Ottoman Empire, into English. The translations are published as free, open-access resources on the PICT website. In 2023, the ongoing translation project was recognized by Roberta Micallef, Professor of the Practice at the Department of World Languages and Literatures, Boston University, who contacted PICT in the planning stages of Artichoke to include some of Evrim and David’s translations on the site.

Described by its initiators as “a long-term project and a labor of love,” Artichoke aims to build an archive of translations as well as provide a range of resources for anyone interested in the topics of Turkish literature and translation. In time, the site’s founders hope to cover a continuum of Turkish literatures spanning from past to present and from Asia to Europe to diasporic communities around the world, as well as provide a platform for discussions and exchange on the art of translation itself. Their underlying goal is to “share the joy of reading a beautiful piece of art that reminds us of our common humanity.”

We at PICT are thrilled to contribute to this laudable project and wish Roberta and her collaborators the best of success!