Derick Mattern translates contemporary poetry from Turkish and studies the histories of its translators in the context of world literature.
Derick Mattern writes, studies, and translates poetry. He has a particular interest in translating post-1980 Turkish poets, creative-critical translation practice, and the history of literary translation.
His creative-critical dissertation project unfolds in a double movement. The first part addresses a gap in the canon of Turkish poetry available in English by translating Yücel Kayıran's book-length poem Efsus’a Yolculuk (Passage to Efsus). The second contextualizes that translation by recounting the lost history of the French and English translators of Kayıran’s predecessor, Nâzım Hikmet, “Turkey’s world poet.” This twofold work offers an interdisciplinary model of how scholarship and creative practice can mutually inform each other.
He also maintains an active creative practice, writing poetry in English and translating contemporary Turkish poets. His poems have appeared in outlets like The Los Angeles Review, The Adroit Journal, Mantis, The Volta, Subtropics, among others, and have been featured on Poetry Daily. His translations of poems by Haydar Ergülen, Cenk Gündoğdu, and Şükrü Erbaş can be found in Gulf Coast, The Common, Copper Nickel, Modern Poetry in Translation, World Literature Today, Berlin Quarterly, and elsewhere. He has received support from the British Centre for Literary Translation, the Banff International Literary Translation Centre, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
At WashU, Derick has led the WashU Translators Collective and taught classes in Near Eastern Literatures, Digital Humanities, Global Studies, and World Literature. He has also mentored the Kling Undergraduate Research Fellows and currently serves as a Graduate Fellow in The Writing Center. Before coming to WashU, he taught language, academic writing, and creative writing at universities in Turkey and the US.
Derick is also active in translation and literary organizations at the national level. He has presented on Turkish poetry at conferences of the American Comparative Literature Association (ACLA) and the American Literary Translators Association (ALTA). For ALTA, he organizes panels on translation for the Association of Writers & Writing Programs (AWP) conferences and has led introductory translation workshops.
