(photo credit: In Jail With Nazim Hikmet by Orhan Kemal,
published by Saqi Books.)
Orhan Kemal was known as the labourer of writing because of his
clear prose evocations of Turkish working people. A new
translation of In Jail with Nazim Hikmet, Orhan's memoir of the
five formative years he spent sharing a prison cell with one of
Turkey's greatest poets, has just appeared in English. Bengisu
Rona, translator and literary historian explains how between
them, the writers sought a new brighter, more humane society.