Sevin Okyay (born 11 November 1942, Istanbul) 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 (Jazz and Beyond) and Cinayet Masası (Murder Desk).
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 (Murder Desk) 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 (Jazz and Beyond). 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 2010: Made an honorary member of SİYAD 2012: Cinema Honor Award at the International Istanbul Film Festival 2013: Cinema Labor Award, SİYAD 2013: Cinema Honor Award, İKSV 2014: Honorary award for contributions to translation, Çeviri Derneği 2016: Mavi Anka Award, Fantasy and Science Fiction Arts Association 2019: Bilge Olgaç Achievement Award, Flying Broom International Women's Film Festival 2021: Orhan Kemal Labor Award at the Adana Golden Boll Film Festival 2022: Contribution to Cinema Award at the International Crime and Punishment Film Festival 2021: Labor Award, Cinema Writing at the International Women Directors Festival 2022: Mass Communication Award at the Ankara Film Festival 2023: Labor Award at the İzmir International Film and Music Festival
Bibliography 1996: Ilk Romanim (My First Novel) – children's book 1996: 120 Filmde Seyriâlem (A Cinema Tour in 120 Films) – selected movie critiques 1998: Çiçek Dürbünü (Kaleidoscope) – collected essays 2002: Gol Atan Kaleye (Goal to the Goalkeeper) – essay 2010: Masal Pınarı (Fairytale Spring) – play; staged by Pınar Selek 2018: Ara Sıra Ve Daima (Sometimes and Always) – "portrait articles" about people who changed her life; originally published in Radikal
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 title Author Translation Publication year Publisher ISBN Notes Tales of the Early World Ted Hughes Ilk Dünya Hikayeleri 1999 Yapı Kredi Yayınları Delights of Turkey Edouard Roditi Türkiye Tatlari Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction J.D. Salinger Yükseltin Tavan Kirisini, Ustalar ve Seymour – bir Giris With Coskun Yerli Animal Farm George Orwell Hayvanlar Çiftliği 2000 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets J.K. Rowling Harry Potter ve Sirlar Odasi 2001 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban Harry Potter ve Azkaban Tutsagi With Kutlukhan Kutlu Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Harry Potter ve Ates Kadehi Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them Fantastik Canavlar Nelerdir, Nerelerde Bulunurlar? 2002 With Gül Sarioglu Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Harry Potter ve Zümrüdüanka Yoldasligi 2003 With Kutlukhan Kutlu Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Harry Potter ve Melez Prens 2005 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Harry Potter ve Ölüm Yadigarları 2007 Death on the Nile Agatha Christie Nil'de Ölüm – Malikanedeki Esrar 2010 NTV Yayınları The Secret of Chimneys The Pony Mad Princess – a Surprise for Princess Ellie Diana Kimpton Midilli Tutkunu Prenses – Prenses Ellie'ye Sürpriz 2011 Türkiye İş Bankası Kültür Yayınları The Call of Cthulhu H. P. Lovecraft Cthulhu’nun Çağrısı ve Diğer Tuhaf Öyküler 2019 DEX The Colour Out of Space The Whisperer in Darkness The Case of Charles Dexter Ward At the Mountains of Madness Remember This House James Baldwin Ben Senin Zencin Değilim’i 2020 Kırmızı Kedi Yayinevi
References
External links A collection of her critiques (in Turkish) An article in English by Okyay on the 9th Flying Broom International Women's Film Festival