Applications open for the 2026 Talât Sait Halman Translation Award

Applications are open for the 2026 Talât Sait Halman Translation Award, which supports literary translations into Turkish. The winner, selected by a panel, will receive TL 100,000 in cash.

Publishers and translators can apply with stories or novels translated into Turkish from their original languages and published with an ISBN. Publishers may submit up to three translated works. Applicants must not have previously won the award, and submissions must reach the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts by 5 p.m. on October 2.

Writer and translator Ayşe Sarısayın chairs this year’s selection panel. The panel also includes editors and translators Emrah İmre and Begüm Kovulmaz, along with academics and translators Lale Özcan and Ayşe Ece. The winner will be announced at the end of the year.

The award began in 2015 in memory of Talât Sait Halman, Turkey’s first culture minister and chair of the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts’ Board of Trustees from 2008 to 2014. Previous winners include Siren İdemen, Ahmet Arpad, Fuat Sevimay, Ülker İnce, Gökhan Sarı, Ebru Erbaş, Kamil Kayhan Yükseler, Erdem Kurtuldu, Süleyman Doğru, Zafer Ceylan, Regaip Minareci, Ali Volkan Erdemir and Elif Ersavcı.