İpek Seyalıoğlu

A poet and a theatermaker, İpek Seyalıoğlu was born in Istanbul, Turkey. She now lives in Berlin. Her literary work spans poetry, poetry translations, short stories and plays, which have been published in Kitap-lık, Papirüs, Akatalpa, Sonra, Cogito, and Eurozine. Her articles have also appeared in Bianet and Mimesis. She has participated in various international literature festivals, collaborated with international directors, and experimented with different forms. She performs in the indie theater scene and collaborates with other artists from different disciplines. Her first solo performance Notes on the Tip of My Tongue: The Contemporary Art of Survival premiered in Berlin in 2023 at Theater Aufbau Kreuzberg. In her solo, she writes live on stage, a form she describes as Schreibtheater or Writingtheater. In her latest theater play Mourning Cotton Flowers: An X-Berg Poem, she has collaborated with Alexander Markvart, an avant-garde sound artist, combining live improvised music with live poetry writing. She writes in Turkish and English and speaks French and German. 

What brought you to Berlin? Love? World politics? Or was it a coincidence?

My irresistible desire for acting, writing, and freedom.

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What do you love about Berlin?

That it looks small but that it holds the pulse of the world. I hear many sounds and voices. I love this.

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What do you miss in Berlin?

My family, friends, my books, street cats and dogs, and the beauty of conversing with people around a table with rakı and meze.

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What is your favorite spot in Berlin?

Maybachufer, PAS, libraries, Berliner Ensemble.

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Would you say you are a different person in Berlin? A different translator? And if yes, in what way?

I am also writing in English now, and I feel I hear better than I used to.

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Which existing literary work do you wish you had written?

Such a difficult question!!! For sure there cannot be one answer!!! But I would have written Duino Elegies by Rilke, or Auto da Fe by Elias Canetti, or Hamletmaschine by Heinrich Müller.

2025 - Berlin Fellowship for writers/poets writing in languages other than German with her poetry in Turkish

2024- Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg Project Funds with Mourning Cotton Flowers: An X-Berg Poem

2023- Weltoffenes Berlin Fellowship for Artists with Notes on the Tip of My Tongue: The Contemporary Art of Survival

2022- Martin-Roth-Initiative Scholarship for Artists 

2003- Bakır Kalkan (Jury Prize/ published by Mitos Yayınevi, İstanbul)