About the Author
Nuran Barengi:
Born in 1968,
Ergani/Diyarbakır, she went to the primary school of the neighborhood until
its third year, as she had to leave her birth place because of her father’s
assignment to a new governmental post in Ankara where she continued her primary
and secondary studies. During her graduate years she worked in the Ministry of
Finance while pursuing her studies at the Faculty of Economics. The Ministry of
Finance, the Treasury Under secretariat of Prime Ministry, the General
Secretariat of the Administrative Council of Public Banks and The Agricultural
Bank of Turkish Republic were the organizations at which she occupied important
posts, which was followed by her research work, in her capacity of a staff
member, at the Economics Department of the Boğaziçi University.
During her stay in Ankara,
Mrs. Barengi, took singing lessons and dabbled in jazz music, studied ballet,
went into journalism, and dipped into dramatic art. Married and the mother of
two children, she lives in Istanbul, Turkey.
The interest she
cultivated in arts and social sciences ever since she was in her teens played a
decisive role in the development of her mental framework and in her undivided
attention bestowed upon current social affairs. Philosophical issues
particularly steered toward concepts of universal balance, of butterfly effect
and of infinity have been the basic components in the formation of her
spiritual framework and contributed to the many a perplexing problem related to
human relations. An observing mind, coupled with an enthusiasm to experience
life profoundly unleashed in her a resolute energy resulting into poetic
creations. All these tributaries converged into the formation of her character
reminiscent of streams flowing into the vast main.
Prizes and Shields
1. Literary prize awarded on the World Women’s
Day on 8th March, 2012, on the occasion of the festival organized by World Film
and Arts Foundation and the Aznavur Sanat for prominent women who have
contributed meritoriously to the development of fine arts and social media.
2. Shield of gratitude offered by TUMBIAD
(April 2012) for her integrating thorny social issues with art in her poem
entitled Deprem (Earthquake) dedicated to the children, victims of the Van
earthquake.
3. Shield for her contribution, in her
capacity of contributor, to fine arts on the occasion of the Mothers’ Day, 12
May 2012, organized by the World and Anatolian Federation for Social Assistance
in which took part local and foreign prominent members of the society.
4. To figure in the book entitled Gülbaranın
Gülleri edited by Sedat Eroğlu, is a sincere tribute and joy for Nuran Barengi;
it is a work that took the author ten long years for preparation. The book
reminds the future generations that Diyarbakır-Ergani has
been a center from which eminent men and women of letters, sciences and
arts as well as politicians came out to contribute to the general culture of
the land.
About Our Translator
Ahmet Ender Gürol
Ahmet Ender Gürol born in
1931, a prolific translator and lexicographer, has over a hundred books to his
credit. Among the books he has translated from Turkish into English we can name
The Time Regulation Institute; The Peace in Mind; The History of the 19th
Century Turkish literature of A.H. Tanpınar; Istanbul was a Fairy Tale of Mario Levi;
Locked Lives of T.Afsin Ilgar; In The Name of The Father, the Son and
the Holy Spirit: A History of the
Crusades, of Doğan Yurdakul; The Crimean
Times of Sevim Çokum; The Frankfurt Journal of A. Haşim; and Murat IV of Turan Oflazoğlu.
ABOUT THE BOOK
In my journey from prose to poetry in the Chamber with Mirrors my inquisitive approach to life as a human being in the first place and then as a woman and mother
“I release my amniotic fluid to me heart
To free my neck from the chord around my neck”
The struggles i indulged in to see that ‘beauties’ come out with flying colours as sempiternally reflected in the image of our soul of the coexisting Good and Evil ....
In the Room with a Mirror of Leonardo da Vinci, is it possible that the fact that a person standing in the middle of a room whose walls are of mirrors clad claims that he can have endless viewpoints which it inspired the title of the present book may be the outcome of an endless repetitions of projections representing the infinite?
The fact that exchange of looks with you in the course of my journey along the lines of poetry I have just embarked on will ever fire my imagination is a source of intense joy for me... I thank you all so much...
Nuran Barengi's feminine approach to life is so delicate that one feels as though a butterfly has just touched one's heart; hers is a sentimental collogue with her soul. She has the unaffectedness of Orhan Veli, while aspiring to Karin Boye's passionate expression at the same time. She touches the limits of eternity in her poems bordering on prose at times in which she captures moments of everlastingness. With consuming interest and curiosity, I am looking forward to see where Barengis' path will lead to in the end.
~Özkan Mert
Turkish Poet
