Burcu Karahan

Burcu Karahan is a literary scholar of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Ottoman and Turkish literatures, as well as French and English literatures, with a particular focus on the novel, literary translation, sexuality, and Ottoman modernization. Her current research and translation project explores the representation of slavery in Ottoman literature and the dynamics of erotic fiction in the late Ottoman period, examining their intersections with national and literary history.

In addition to her research, Karahan works extensively as a literary translator of Ottoman literature. She has translated the late Ottoman erotic series One Thousand and One Kisses (Translation Attached, 2025), co-translated Samipaşazade Sezai’s 1888 anti-slavery novel The Adventures of a Slave Girl (forthcoming from Edinburgh University Press), and co-translated Abdülhak Şinasi Hisar’s Mister Fahim (forthcoming from Everest Publishing House).

Karahan teaches a wide range of courses on literature and culture, including Ottoman, modern Turkish, and Middle Eastern literatures in translation, as well as graphic novels. She also offers language courses in Ottoman Turkish, Turkish reading knowledge, and translation.

Translations: One Thousand and One Kisses (Translation Attached, 2025)