Zafer Ceylan has been granted the 2022 Talât Sait Halman Translation Award for his masterful Turkish translation of Captain, a novel by Kuwaiti author Taleb Alrefai rich in intricate maritime terminology.
Zafer Ceylan was born in Istanbul in 1985. He graduated from Ankara University’s Faculty of Language and History-Geography, Department of Arabic Language and Literature in 2008. He completed his master’s degree in the same department in 2011 and earned his PhD in 2017. In 2017, I Did Not Know Peacocks Could Fly, a collection of short stories compiled and translated by Ceylan from five books by Egyptian author Bahaa Taher, was published by Kırmızı Yayınları.
Ceylan currently serves as a faculty member in the Department of Arabic Translation and Interpretation at Karamanoğlu Mehmetbey University's School of Foreign Languages. His translations of modern Arabic literature, including short stories, poems, and essays, have been featured in magazines such as Sözcükler, Sarnıç Öykü, Balkon, Bağlaç Kültür Sanat, and on the online platform parsomenfanzin.com.
Selection Committee
Doğan Hızlan, author (Chair)
Sevin Okyay, author, translator, and critic
Ayşe Sarısayın, author and translator
Yiğit Bener, author and translator
Kaya Genç, author and translator
Kaptan (Captain)
Author: Talib Rifaî
Translator: Zafer Ceylan
Publisher: Ayrıntı Yayınları
Original title: Al Najdi
First edition in Turkish: 2022