Efe Murad is a Turkish poet, translator, and historian.

Biography

Born and raised in Istanbul, Turkey, Efe Murad studied philosophy at Princeton University and completed his PhD in Ottoman History and Arabic Philosophy at Harvard University. Together with Cem Kurtuluş, he wrote the Matter-Poetry Manifesto in 2004. He is the author of six books of poetry and the translator of seven more, including the first complete translation of

Ezra Pound Ezra Weston Loomis Pound (30 October 1885 – 1 November 1972) was an expatriate American poet and critic, a major figure in the early modernist poetry movement, and a fascist collaborator in Italy during World War II. His works includ ...

’s ''Cantos'' into Turkish; volumes by the American poets

Susan Howe Susan Howe (born June 10, 1937) is an American poet, scholar, essayist, and critic, who has been closely associated with the Language poets, among other poetry movements.

Lyn Hejinian Lyn Hejinian (born May 17, 1941) is an American poet, essayist, translator and publisher. She is often associated with the Language poets and is known for her landmark work ''My Life'' (Sun & Moon, 1987, original version Burning Deck, 1980), as ...

, and C. K. Williams, the German author

Thomas Bernhard Nicolaas Thomas Bernhard (; 9 February 1931 – 12 February 1989) was an Austrian novelist, playwright and poet who explored death, social injustice, and human misery in controversial literature that was deeply pessimistic about modern civilizati ...

, as well as the Iranian poets Mahmoud Mosharraf Azad Tehrani and Fereydoon Moshiri. Together with the American poet and translator Sidney Wade, he co-translated a collection of poems by the Turkish modernist Melih Cevdet Anday under the title ''Silent Stones'' (Talisman Press, 2017), which was awarded "the Meral Divitçi Prize for Turkish Poetry in Translation." His poems, writings and translations in English have appeared in a wide range of journals including ''The American Reader'', ''Five Points'', ''Denver Quarterly'', ''Guernica'', ''Critical Flame'', ''Turkish Poetry Today'', ''Poet Lore'', ''Asymptote'', ''Jacket2'', and ''Two Lines'', and exhibitions including the 13th Istanbul Biennial. In 2021, he published a volume of memoristic essay, ''The Pleasures of Empty Lots'', which concerns the culture of flaneurship and the rise of authoritarianism in his hometown

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

. His bilingual book of poetry, ''Breaking of Symmetry/Simetrinin Kırılması'', a collaboration with the Harvard University quantum physics researcher Dr. Sina Zeytinoğlu and poet-artist Sevinç Çalhanoğlu came out in a special edition of 400, funded by the European Union Grant Scheme for Common Cultural Heritage, as well as Turkey’s Aşina Project. According to the description included in the book, Murad recorded various conversations with Dr. Zeytinoğlu about his research on

symmetry breaking In physics, symmetry breaking is a phenomenon in which (infinitesimally) small fluctuations acting on a system crossing a critical point decide the system's fate, by determining which branch of a bifurcation is taken. To an outside observ ...

s and

phase transition In chemistry, thermodynamics, and other related fields, a phase transition (or phase change) is the physical process of transition between one state of a medium and another. Commonly the term is used to refer to changes among the basic states ...

s. Having transcribed these recorded conversations, Murad chiseled Dr. Zeytinoğlu’s words into poetry by mixing them with corresponding contexts in Islamic philosophy and Sufism. A scholar of Ottoman history and Islamic philosophy, he is currently teaching history, religion, and writing at

Wellesley College Wellesley College is a private women's liberal arts college in Wellesley, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1870 by Henry and Pauline Durant as a female seminary, it is a member of the original Seven Sisters Colleges, an unofficia ...

. His ongoing practice melds paleography, found footage, soundscapes, and mystical experience in poetry. ''An Organ of Quality'', a cycle of poems will be published by Bored Wolves Press in 2023.

Books in English

* ''The Pleasures of Empty Lots'' (Bored Wolves Press, 2021) . * ''Silent Stones'', co-trans. w/ Sidney Wade (Talisman House, 2017) . * ''Breaking of Symmetry/Simetrinin Kırılması'', in collaboration w/ Sina Zeytinoğlu, Sevinç Çalhanoğlu, and translator Fahri Öz (European Union Grant Scheme for Common Cultural Heritage, 2022) .

Poems in English Translation

* "Encirclings" (trans.

Murat Nemet-Nejat Murat may refer to: Places Australia * Murat Bay, a bay in South Australia * Murat Marine Park, a marine protected area France * Murat, Allier, a commune in the department of Allier * Murat, Cantal, a commune in the department of Cantal Elsewhe ...

from "An Organ of Quality") published in an anthology of Mediterranean poets ''Circle Surface Sun: From Somewhere in the Mediterranean'', eds. Irena Eden & Stijn Lernout (Schlebrügge.Editor, 2020) .

References

External links

* A survey of contemporary experimental poetry in Turkey "Visuality, Non-Agency, and Found Footage in ''heves'': New Trends in Contemporary Turkish Poetry (2003-2010)" published by ''elit: Literaturhaus Europa'

* Poems in English in ''Jacket2'',
Jacket 34 - October 2007 - Murat Nemet-Nejat: A Godless Sufism: Selections from «Eda: A Contemporary Anthology of 20th Century Turkish Poetry», Murat Nemet-Nejat, Ed.
* On "The Materialist Poem"in ''Jacket2'
Jacket 34 - October 2007 - Murat Nemet-Nejat: A Godless Sufism: Essays on, including selected translations from, «Eda: «Eda: A Contemporary Anthology of 20th Century Turkish Poetry», Murat Nemet-Nejat, Ed.
*"A poem in the manner of Karacaoglan", translations by Sidney Wade and Efe Murad in ''Asymptote'
sections 1 and 4sections 6-8
* "Streets of Istanbul," a poetry performance along with Irina Baldini and Çağlar Köseoğlu, Winternachten Literature Festival in the Hague 201

* "Book of My Life," an interview at the Winternachten Literature Festival in the Hague 2018

* "Fraternité! The Forgotten Value of Brotherhood," along with

David Van Reybrouck David Grégoire Van Reybrouck (born 11 September 1971, in Bruges) is a Belgian cultural historian, archaeologist and author. He writes historical fiction, literary non-fiction, novels, poetry, plays and academic texts. He has received several ...

and Fatma Aydemir, Winternachten Literature Festival in the Hague 201

*"Voice", a translation by Sidney Wade and Efe Murad in ''Guernica'
Voice
* "Garip: A Turkish Poetry Manifesto", a translation by Sidney Wade and Efe Murad in ''Critical Flame'
''The Critical Flame''
* A Word's Autobiography on

Seyhan Erözçelik Seyhan Erözçelik (13 March 1962 – 24 August 2011) was a Turkish poet. Biography He was born in 1962 in Bartın, Turkey, a town in the Black Sea region. He studied psychology at Boğazici University and Oriental languages at Istanbul Universit ...

in ''Jacket2''
A word's autobiography , Jacket2
* "Silent Stones: Selected Poems of Melih Cevdet Anday"

{{DEFAULTSORT:Murad, Efe 1987 births Writers from Istanbul Turkish poets 21st-century poets Living people Princeton University alumni Harvard University alumni Wellesley College faculty