The Prisoner of Ankara

Suat Derviş (Istanbul, 1905–1972) is one of the leading female authors of Turkish literature. She was educated in Germany, where she wrote articles for newspapers and journals. After the rise of fascism, she returned to Turkey in 1932. She became renowned for her novels, which were serialized in Turkish newspapers and often centered around the tragic lives of lost, lonely, and struggling people in urban Turkey. In 1941 she began publishing Yeni Edebiyat (“New Literature”), a biweekly magazine on art and literature. A dedicated socialist, she was placed under house arrest for a short period of time following the publication of her book Why Do I Admire Soviet Russia. After her release, and a change of government in Turkey, she voluntarily exiled herself from 1953 to 1963. With the publication of The Prisoner of Ankara in 1957, she became the first female Turkish author to publish a novel in Europe. The novel received critical acclaim from Le Monde and the literary periodical Les Lettres Françaises, and was published in Turkish eleven years later. Her novel In the Shadow of the Yalı was published by Other Press in 2021.

Maureen Freely is the author of seven novels, and a former journalist who focused on literature, social justice, and human rights. Well known as a translator of Nobel Laureate Orhan Pamuk, she has brought into English several Turkish classics as well as newer work by Turkey’s rising stars. As chair of the Translator’s Association and more recently as president and chair of English PEN, she has campaigned for writers and freedom of expression internationally. She teaches at the University of Warwick.