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Birhan Keskin's (b. Kirklareli, Turkey, 1963) poetry is finely-honed and minimal and at the same time, powerfully visual, evocative and exact. Meaning and music overlap, lines dissolve, restart and repeat. Fluid and elusive, her poems inhabit a space between cognition and remembering, testimony and invention. This book selects work from six of Keskin's books, including her prize-winning collection Ba, and George Messo's outstanding translation enables us to appreciate to the full the work of this exceptional poet.
About the author
Birhan Keskin was born in Kirklareli, a town on the European side of Turkey, in 1963. She graduated from the literature department of Istanbul University in sociology in 1986. She published her first poem in 1984. Between 1995 and 98, with her friends, she published the literary journal Göçebe (Nomad). She worked as an editor in numerous publications.
Her poetry books are: Delilirikler (Madlyrics), Iskenderiye Library Publications, 1991; Bakarsin Üzgün Dönerim (You Will Find That I Will Return Sad), Era Publishers, 1994; Cinayet Kisi (The Winter of Murders) + Iki Mektup (Two Letters), Göçebe Poetry Books, 1996; Yirmi Lak Tablet (Twenty Milligram Pills) + Yolcunun Siyah Bavulu (The Traveler's Black Suitcase), YKY, 1999; Yeryüzü Halleri (The World's Conditions), YKY, 2002; Kim Bagislayacak Beni (her first five books, Who Will Spare Me), Metis Publishers, 2005; Ba (Ba), Metis Publishers, 2005; Y'ol (Y'ol ), Metis Publishers, 2006); Soguk Kazi (The Cold Excavation), Metis Publishers, 2010); Fakir Kene (The Poor Tick), Metis Publishers, 2016).
Birhan Keskin's Ba won the Altin Portakal (Golden Orange) poetry prize in Turkey in 2006. Her Soguk Kazi won the Metin Altiok poetry prize in 2016.
Summary
Birhan Keskin's poetry is finely-honed and minimal and at the same time, powerfully visual, evocative and exact. Meaning and music overlap, lines dissolve, restart and repeat. This book selects work from six of Keskin's books, and George Messo's outstanding translation enables us to appreciate to the full the work of this exceptional poet.
