Turkish, German translators honored in Istanbul

Turkish literary translator Ahmet Arpad and his German peer Cornelius Bischoff were honored with the Tarabya Translation Prize over the weekend as the annual prize marked its third edition in Istanbul. Arpad and Bischoff were each honored for their entire body of work in Saturday’s ceremony, held at the German Consulate General in Istanbul, Goethe-Institut Istanbul announced in a written statement issued on Monday. The winners received their awards from German Minister of State Cornelia Pieper. “We want with this prize to pay tribute to the important role played by literary translators as bridge-builders between cultures. With their translations, they give the readers a key with which they can open the door to another world,” Pieper said in a statement issued on Friday, ahead of her visit to Turkey, during which she was also scheduled to visit the ongoing TUYAP Istanbul International Book Fair. The Tarabya Translation Prize was launched in 2010 by the German and Turkish governments with the aim of recognizing and encouraging contributions made to intellectual and cultural relations between the two countries by way of literary translation, and also to support the translation of more literary works. The prize recognizes the best literary translation from German into Turkish and vice versa. Carrying a cash prize of 7,500 Euros, the Tarabya Translation Prize is the biggest award in Turkey given in the field of literary translation. Handed out as part of Germany’s Ernst Reuter Initiative for Cultural Dialogue, the prize is financed by Turkey’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the German Foreign Ministry. The winners are decided by two independent panels of judges, each comprising six members made up of authors, publishers, literary critics and academics. Up-and-coming translators Ayca Sabuncuoglu and Johannes Neuner were honored with the young generation achievement prizes, while Sabir Yucesoy was granted a working scholarship at the Literarisches Colloquium Berlin.