Seda Tunç

Seda Tunç is a writer and translator working across poetry and prose.

She studied English and American literatures in Istanbul and Vienna, as well as philosophy in Vienna. Her debut poetry collection WELCH with edition mosaik was published in 2021, and her poems have been translated into Norwegian, Serbian, and Turkish. Her cross-genre writing blends philosophical, lyrical, and political elements with surreal imagery, exploring the possibilities of expression.

In her recent work, she engages with urgent contemporary issues: current censorship mechanisms in Europe across the fields of art, media, and academia; the West’s double standards; nation-state border politics; structural violence; the solidarity of friendship; the socio-political isolation of individuals; classism; displacement; and the colonial and racist continuities embedded in Western societies.

Tunç is currently working on both prose and poetry projects and is translating a novel. Among the authors she has translated are Anne Carson, Aglaja Veteranyi, Arild Vange, and Rosemarie Waldrop. She is also trained as a writing coach and regularly designs and leads creative writing seminars.

Among the fellowships and grants Seda Tunç has received are the writers’ fellowship from the Literarisches Colloquium Berlin; a translator’s fellowship from the Deutscher Übersetzerfonds/Culture Moves Europe, Berlin; the fellowship from Akademie für Lyrikkritik at Haus für Poesie, Berlin; the Kültür Gemma fellowship, Vienna; a project grant from the City of Vienna, and several work grants from the Austrian Federal Ministry for Arts and Culture.