Born in Ankara in 1961, Zafer Senocak has lived in Germany since 1970. Over the years, he has become a leading voice in the German discussions on multiculturalism and national identity. His volume of essays Atlas of the Tropical Germany is currently included on the American Association of University Professors list of books to further our understanding of issues surrounding 9/11.

Between 1996 and 2000, Senocak was writer-in-residence at four US universities and was a featured author at the 2007 PEN World Festival in New York City. Door Languages contains material from four of Senocak’s recent German collections.

“His Story”

when there were no secret parts
writing was devised on a woman’s body
no part left undescribed
men and their dirty fingers
mixed up one character with the other
until the letters couldn’t be read
they had never gotten around to reading
they became doubters of script
looking for the lost language
burned all books short of their own body
out of the ashes fashioned their dream dame
veiled it deep black
are illiterates still
Elizabeth Oehlkers Wright’s translations of contemporary German poets have been featured in numerous journals. She was the winner of Agni’s William J. Arrowsmith Translation Award, and she has received fellowships from the NEA, the American Literary Translators Association, and the University of Arkansas Fulbright College. A selection of her translations of Zafer Senocak appeared in the PIP Anthology of World Literature of the 20th Century (Green Integer) and in the 2007 Zoland Poetry annual.

Translated by: Elizabeth Oehlkers Wright