Sevin Okyay


Sevin Okyay is a Turkish critic, journalist, author, columnist, radio host and translator. Best known for her translations of the Harry Potter books, Okyay is Turkey's first female film critic. She writes about cinema, sports, literature and jazz and hosts two radio shows: Caz ve Ötesi and Cinayet Masası.

Early life and career

Okyay and her younger brother Sinan were born to an architect-engineer father and a housemaker mother. Their father was Albanian and their mother was Circassian. They spent their childhood winters in Beşiktaş and the summers in Maltepe. They lived with their mother following their parents' divorce when Okyay was 10 or 12. She credits her mother with starting her love of the arts through taking her and her brother to plays and concerts, and reading to them.
While attending Arnavutköy [American High School for Girls], Okyay played basketball and volleyball. Tansu Çiller was a classmate and volleyball teammate. Okyay briefly attended university before being expelled for absenteeism.
Okyay has been a translator since 1963. Her first translation was a 333-page detective novel by Georgette Heyer about a 19th-century thief in London, which she found challenging due to the slang. She became a political correspondent for Politika in 1975 to financially supplement her translation work. While at Politika, she was given an assignment to speak to members of the Revolutionary Youth Federation of Turkey. The team was leaving as she arrived and they advised her to wait for them to return. They did not. She was later arrested by police for loitering and spent four days in jail. She started at Milliyet Ekler in 1983 and worked closely with Enis Batur. Batur sent her to see Federico Fellini's And the Ship Sails On in 1984; while the job was ostensibly meant for her colleague Ömer Madra, he refused to write the column and encouraged her to do so instead. This made her Turkey's first female film critic. Over the course of her career, Okyay has worked for Radikal, Dunya, Ayrıntılı Haber, Hürriyet, Gergedan, Şehir, Kapris, Star, Gösteri, Elele and Kadın. She also translated for UNICEF's magazine. She began writing about sports while working for Nokta.
Okyay presented Ve Sinema on TRT for five and a half years. Though she has a been involved in radio programming since 1995, with her detective program Cinayet Masası on air for 26 years as of 2024, it wasn't until the COVID-19 pandemic that she joined Açık Radyo and later NTV Radio to broadcast her music show Caz ve Ötesi. Earlier in her career, she appeared in the 1999 film Run for Money and translated plays including The House of Bernarda Alba, Hamlet 2001 and Othello.
She continues to write about cinema, literature, jazz and sports for Milliyet, 221B and BirGün, among other publications. She also sits on juries for multiple associations, including the award committees for the International Crime and Punishment Film Festival, the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts' Talât Sait Halman Translation Award, Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival and the Turkish Film Critics Association. In 2017, journalist Pınar İlkiz wrote a book about Okyay's life called Hakikaten-Sevin Okyay Anlatıyor.

Personal life

Okyay married at 21 and had two children, son Kutlukhan Kutlu and daughter Elif Kutlu. She and her spouse later divorced. Kutlukhan is also a translator and worked with his mother on the Harry Potter books, while Elif directs broadcasts for NTV. Okyay has lived in Kadıköy for more than 25 years.

Awards

Selected translations

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Okyay translated Othello and Fırtına. She has also translated the plays Seeking for Helen and Benim Cyrenos and the lyrics for Nuri Pakdil's play Horror.
Original titleAuthorTranslationPublication yearPublisherISBNNotes
Tales of the Early WorldTed HughesIlk Dünya Hikayeleri1999Yapı Kredi Yayınları
Delights of TurkeyEdouard RoditiTürkiye Tatlari1999Yapı Kredi Yayınları
Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An IntroductionJ.D. SalingerYükseltin Tavan Kirisini, Ustalar ve Seymour - bir Giris1999Yapı Kredi YayınlarıWith Coskun Yerli
Animal FarmGeorge OrwellHayvanlar Çiftliği2000Yapı Kredi Yayınları
Harry Potter and the Chamber of SecretsJ.K. RowlingHarry Potter ve Sirlar Odasi2001Yapı Kredi Yayınları
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of AzkabanJ.K. RowlingHarry Potter ve Azkaban Tutsagi2001Yapı Kredi YayınlarıWith Kutlukhan Kutlu
Harry Potter and the Goblet of FireJ.K. RowlingHarry Potter ve Ates Kadehi2001Yapı Kredi YayınlarıWith Kutlukhan Kutlu
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find ThemJ.K. RowlingFantastik Canavlar Nelerdir, Nerelerde Bulunurlar?2002Yapı Kredi YayınlarıWith Gül Sarioglu
Harry Potter and the Order of the PhoenixJ.K. RowlingHarry Potter ve Zümrüdüanka Yoldasligi2003Yapı Kredi YayınlarıWith Kutlukhan Kutlu
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood PrinceJ.K. RowlingHarry Potter ve Melez Prens2005Yapı Kredi YayınlarıWith Kutlukhan Kutlu
Harry Potter and the Deathly HallowsJ.K. RowlingHarry Potter ve Ölüm Yadigarları2007Yapı Kredi YayınlarıWith Kutlukhan Kutlu
Death on the NileAgatha ChristieNil'de Ölüm - Malikanedeki Esrar2010NTV Yayınları
The Secret of ChimneysAgatha ChristieNil'de Ölüm - Malikanedeki Esrar2010NTV Yayınları
The Pony Mad Princess - a Surprise for Princess EllieDiana KimptonMidilli Tutkunu Prenses – Prenses Ellie'ye Sürpriz2011Türkiye İş Bankası Kültür Yayınları
The Call of CthulhuH. P. LovecraftCthulhu’nun Çağrısı ve Diğer Tuhaf Öyküler2019DEX
The Colour Out of SpaceH. P. LovecraftCthulhu’nun Çağrısı ve Diğer Tuhaf Öyküler2019DEX
The Whisperer in DarknessH. P. LovecraftCthulhu’nun Çağrısı ve Diğer Tuhaf Öyküler2019DEX
The Case of Charles Dexter WardH. P. LovecraftCthulhu’nun Çağrısı ve Diğer Tuhaf Öyküler2019DEX
At the Mountains of MadnessH. P. LovecraftCthulhu’nun Çağrısı ve Diğer Tuhaf Öyküler2019DEX
Remember This HouseJames BaldwinBen Senin Zencin Değilim’i2020Kırmızı Kedi Yayinevi