GNK URDU DESK
6 Feb. 2022
Turkish-English Bilingual Poetry Reading
Progressive Literary & Cultural Society (India) and PLCS Turkish Forum organized an Online event, “Turkish-English Bilingual Poetry Reading” on 30th January 2022. The event commenced with PLCS President, Dr. Shamenaz (RTMM, Allahabad, India) giving a brief introduction of Turkish literature. She praised classical poets like Jalauddin Rumi and Shams Tabrizi saying that ‘Rumi is the most widely read poet in the United States in the contemporary scenario. She talked about NazimHikmet, JemalSurayya and contemporary novelists like OrhanPamuk and ElifShafak who are very popular globally for their English writings. She discussed the popularity of Turkish serials in India giving examples of many popular series.
She then introduced and invited MuhsineArda (PLCS Turkish Coordinator) and the Organizing Secretary of the event, Dania Mumtaz. Then Dania Mumtaz introduced PLCS in detail, telling about the objective, works and other relevant information. After this MuhsineArda took charge to carry the event further. She invited poets one by one. In the First Session the following poets read their two English poems with Turkish translations:
1-Dilek Değerli recited, ‘The Alligator Tongue/Timsah Dili and ‘The Magic was Destroyed/BüyüBozuldu.
2-Tarık Günersel recited, ‘Prologue/Prolog and ‘The Birth of Universe’/ evrenDoğarken
3-Hilal Karahan recited, ‘Boko Haram’/Boko Haram and ‘Milk Coffee’/SütlüKahve
4-Bülent Elitok recited, ‘The Story of Bending While the Tree is Alive’/AğaçYaşkenBoyunEğerHikayesi and ‘World of Evil Will Get Off’/KötülükteİnecekVarDünyası
5-Neşe Yaşın recited, ‘Memory of the Rose’/GülünHafızası and ‘Poison Apple’/ Zehirli Elma
6 -Shamenaz recited, ‘Let Me Fly’/BırakUçayım
7- MuhsineArda recited, ‘Good Fishing’/Rastgele
With MuhsineArda’s poetry recitation in English and Turkish, the first session ended. After a short break the second session started with Dr. Shamenaz introducing the second session which was a native language session. In this session, eight Turkish poets recited two poems each in their native language, Turkish. This session was also moderated by Convenor, MuhsineArda as the first session. In her popular style she called each poet one by one.
1-Zübeyde Seven Turan recited, Ömrüme and Aşk
2-Zehra BetülYazıcı recited Malta Haçı and Elimin Haram Tarihi
3-Esra Dökmen recited, Su SeniBulacak and düşkün
4-Deniz AyferTüzün recited Gölge Angelica İçinÖlümZamanı and YırtıkSiyanürŞişesiVe
Kadın
5-Oya GündüzAksu recited, DüğmeKutusu and İnsanveTaşArasında
6-Mine Ömer recited, İzmir’iDuymak and BuzlananKadın
7-Hilmi Haşal recited, YanıltılmışCisimlerKucağı and Covid-19 Salkımı
8- MuhsineArda was the last one to recite her poem, Kar.
In this session, HilalKarahan gave a surprise by reading Dr. Shamenaz’s poem in Turkish which she has published in the poetry anthology of her event, ‘Feministanbul’.
After the poetry recitation, ZeynelÖztürk sang a song/Türküler
The Programme concluded by DrShamenaz proposing the ‘Vote of thanks’. She thanked MuhsineArda for her tremendous efforts, DaniyaMumtaz for her cooperation and all the Turkish poets for reciting their wonderful poems in English and Turkish. This was the second event of PLCS Turkish forum Coordinated very well by PLCS Turkish Coordinator.
