“Poems for…Bridges to Anatolia” is based largely – though not entirely – on the translation work over the years of the Turkish poet Mevlut Ceylan.

Ceylan lived in London for many years and under the title “Core Publications” produced a significant number of booklets that feature and celebrate Turkish poetry. Each is translated into English, the vast majority by Ceylan himself. Some are anthologies, following a theme. Others feature the work of individual Turkish authors.

Ceylan’s quiet and patient work opens the life of one culture to another and in doing so reveals the distinctness of each but also and more importantly their common humanity. He has built and opened a bridge.

The selection offered here took over two years to put together and consists of over twenty poems. It features work by the following Turkish poets : Rumi (who wrote originally in Persian but lived in Konya, now part of Turkey) ; Asaf Halet Çelebi ; Cahit Külebi ; Mufide Guzin Anadol ; M. Mahzun Doğan ; Müştehir Karakaya ; Ümit Yaşar Oğuzcan ; Cahit Irgat ; Nâzim Hikmet ; Cumali Ünaldı ; Erdem Bayazıt ; Bejan Matur ; Erdem            Bayazıt ; Nuri Pakdil ; Cahit Zarifoğlu ; İpek Şenel.

The collection is offered free of charge. You can find it here in pdf.

It is also available as a slideshow. This supplies a rotation of the poems for display on a plasma display screen. Such screens are becoming common in public settings. Presently, each poem remains on the screen for 25 seconds and is then replaced by another from the collection. The reading period is of course adjustable.

The slideshow can be adapted to different screen sizes.

If anyone is interested in the slideshow, please contact.