Robyn Rowland AO, previously Professor of Social Inquiry at Deakin University Australia, is an Irish-Australian citizen. She has been living between Ireland and Australia for 38 years, and working in Turkey since 2009. She has 14 books, 11 of poetry, most recently Under This Saffron Sun – Safran Güneşin Altında, (Knocknarone Press, Ireland 2019) and This Intimate War Gallipoli/Çanakkale 1915 – İçli Dışlı Bir Savaş: Gelibolu/Çanakkale 1915 (FIP, 2015; repub. Spinifex Press, Australia, 2018), bilingual with Turkish translations by Mehmet Ali Çelikel. Mosaics from the Map came out in 2018 (Doire Press, Ireland). She has won or been listed for various prizes and awarded Australia Council and CAL grants. Robyn’s poetry appears in national/international journals in 9 countries, over forty-five anthologies, and eight editions of Best Australian Poems and in Being Human, ed. Neil Astley (Bloodaxe Books, UK, 2011). She has read in India, Portugal, Ireland, UK, USA, Greece, Austria, Bosnia, Serbia, Turkey and Italy, and is published in translation.

Dr Rowland has served as Honorary Fellow, School of Culture and Communication, University of Melbourne (2008-2012); Curator, Geelong Regional Libraries’ Poetry & Conversation series (2011–2013); Member, Australia Poetry Ltd, National Advisory Council (2010–2013); Deputy Chair, Board Australian Poetry Centre (2007- 2009); and, Board Member, Poetry Australia Foundation (2004-2006). She is filmed reading for the National Irish Poetry Reading Archive, James Joyce Library, UCD, available on YouTube. An extensive interview with Denise O’Hagan appeared in The Blue Nib December 2020 available here.

Most recently, an interview with Dr Rowland has been published in the Turkish literary journal Helezon, which is available here. Further information is on https://robynrowland.com.

Under This Saffron Sun / Safran Güneşin Altında

Dr. Robyn Rowland with translator Professor Mehmet Ali Çelikel preparing their translations.

Under This Saffron Sun / Safran Güneşin Altında, (Turkish translations by Mehmet Ali Çelikel), returns to Turkey; capturing place, friendship, change and uncovering the similarities between peoples which unite us all, rather than divide. It gently alludes to Syrian refugees, to the desire for peace and for stability, to hold onto the things which bind. Mostly, it is about the beauty of Turkey and its landscape, friendship, different ways with love and place.

Turkish poet, Didem Gülçin Erdem, Boşluklara Doğru İlerleyelim, wrote:

"These are poems that stroll in Kadıköy, get excited in Kapadokya, rest in Kaş, pop into Gülhane, blossom in Bozcaada. They love and embrace Anatolia. Robyn Rowland feels Anatolia. With a woman’s sensibility, Rowland puts her hand under the water that flows from its heart. Her poetry blooms in the fruitful soil of Turkish through Mehmet Ali Çelikel’s meticulous translations; a language the poet clearly loves. You will meet a woman with humanism in her heart; whose homeland is empathy."

Paula Meehan, Ireland Professor of Poetry (2013-2016) wrote:

"These poems are alive to the ancient past as well as to more recent displacements, wars and pitiable erosions. From intense mother love to the divine love evidenced in the dervish rapture, this poet’s credo is surely all you need is love."

"Everywhere here a flag is hoisted for our common and shared humanity, in language rich, resonant, precise, and eminently fit for purpose. From Istanbul to Cappadocia, to Marmaris, a book of the good things we find on this earth: a song of colour, pattern, taste and feeling, ‘weaving that needs the map inside the hands’ as she so memorably puts it. Here is a testament to witness and friendship, the griefs of a life touched on and set down, the ultimate healing solace to be found in ‘the authenticity of connection’."

* This reading by Robyn Rowland has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.