Victoria Rowe Holbrook is an American scholar and translator of

Turkish literature Turkish literature ( tr, Türk edebiyatı) comprises oral compositions and written texts in Turkic languages. The Ottoman and Azerbaijani forms of Turkish, which forms the basis of much of the written corpus, were highly influenced by Persian la ...

and language. She studied at

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

and

Princeton Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the nine ...

, obtaining a PhD from the latter in 1985. Her subject was

Near Eastern Studies Oriental studies is the academic field that studies Near Eastern and Far Eastern societies and cultures, languages, peoples, history and archaeology. In recent years, the subject has often been turned into the newer terms of Middle Eastern studie ...

. She won numerous fellowships and research grants in her academic career. She was attached to

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

from 1987 to 2005, also teaching at

Bilkent University Bilkent University ( tr, Bilkent Üniversitesi) is a private university located in Ankara, Turkey. It was founded by Prof. İhsan Doğramacı in 1984, with the aim of creating a center of excellence in higher education and research. It is constan ...

Koç University Koç University ( tr, Koç Üniversitesi) is a non-profit private university in Istanbul, Turkey. It started education in temporary buildings in İstinye in 1993, and moved to its current Rumelifeneri campus near Sarıyer in 2000. Koç Universit ...

, and

Boğaziçi University Boğaziçi University ( tr, Boğaziçi Üniversitesi), also known as Bosphorus University, is a major research university in Istanbul, Turkey. Its main campus is located on the European side of the Bosphorus, Bosphorus strait. It has six facult ...

in Turkey. Her book, ''The Unreadable Shores of Love: Turkish Modernity and Mystic Romance'', won the Turkish Studies Association M. Fuat Köprülü Book Prize. She is best known today for her translation of

Orhan Pamuk Ferit Orhan Pamuk (born 7 June 1952) is a Turkish novelist, screenwriter, academic, and recipient of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Literature. One of Turkey's most prominent novelists, his work has sold over thirteen million books in sixty-three lan ...

's novel ''

The White Castle ''The White Castle'' (original Turkish title: ''Beyaz Kale'') is a novel by Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk. Plot introduction The events of this story take place in 17th century Istanbul. The story is about a young Italian scholar sailing from Venice ...

'', which won the inaugural

Independent Foreign Fiction Prize The ''Independent'' Foreign Fiction Prize (1990–2015) was a British literary award. It was inaugurated by British newspaper ''The Independent'' to honour contemporary fiction in translation in the United Kingdom. The award was first launched i ...

. Other translations include: * ''Beauty And Love'' by Seyh Galip (2 vols.) * ''East West Mimesis: Auerbach in Turkey'' by Kader Konuk * ''The Other'' by Ece Vahapoglu * ''The New Cultural Climate in Turkey: Living in a Shop Window'' by Nurdan Gurbilek * ''Listen: Commentary on the Spiritual Couplets of Mevlana

Rumi Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī ( fa, جلال‌الدین محمد رومی), also known as Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Balkhī (), Mevlânâ/Mawlānā ( fa, مولانا, lit= our master) and Mevlevî/Mawlawī ( fa, مولوی, lit= my ma ...

'' by Kenan Rifai * ''O Humankind: Surah Ya-Sin'' by

Cemalnur Sargut Cemalnur Sargut is a Turkish Sufi, a leader of the Rifa'i order, author, and Islamic scholar. Biography Cemalnur Sargut was born to Meskure Sargut and Omer Faruk Sargut in 1952 in Istanbul. Sargut's mother was a disciple of Turkish Sufi maste ...

(trans. Victoria Rowe Holbrook) (Nefes/Fons Vitae: Istanbul; 2021)

References

American translators Harvard University alumni Living people American women writers Princeton University alumni Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American women {{US-translator-stub