1. FAMOUS TURKISH POETS AND WRITERS Prepared by: ÇELİKHAN LİSESİ

2. YUNUS EMRE (1238 – 1320) Yunus Emre was a Turkish poet and Sufi mystic. He has exercised immense influence on Turkish literature, from his own day until the present. Because Yunus Emre is, after Ahmet Yesevi and Sultan Veled, one of the first known Turkish poets to have composed works in the spoken Turkish of his own age and region rather than in Persian or Arabic, his diction remains very close to the popular speech of his contemporaries in Central and Western Anatolia. This is also the language of a number of anonymous folk-poets, folk-songs, fairy tales, riddles (tekerlemeler), and proverbs. Yunus' impact on Turkish culture can be seen in various ways. During the efforts to purify the Turkish language in the 1920's his poetry was a prime example of the dialect of Anatolian peasants. Several authors claim that many idioms in everyday language are actually verses from his poetry. His philosophy, metaphysics and humanism have been examined in various symposiums and conferences on a regular basis both in Turkey and abroad. UNESCO named Yunus Emre one of the main cultural figures of world, and dedicated 1991 as "The International Yunus Emre Year". His work has been translated into several languages, and historians consider his system of thought important for clues about thirteenth-century Anatolia. These are just some examples of Emre's impact on comtemporary Turkish society.

3. Mehmed Akif Ersoy (1873 - 1936) A great Turkish - Islamic poet, he has also written the lyrics of our national anthem. Akif practically screams with his poetry where he displays a striking strong voice which kindles nationalistic feelings. The poem he wrote for those who died at Gallipoli, is the greatest of the legends of heroism. Akif who gave us the most effective examples of the art of poetry, has moved to Anatolia during the National Independence War, and was one of its participants. Despite the fact religious subjects are abundant in his poems, he cannot be considered as merely an Islamic poet. His lines, taking their theme from numerous problems faced by the society, has proven that his vision reached far beyond religion. His poems are collected in seven volumes under the title "Safahat".

4. Nâzım Hikmet (1902 –1963) Nazim Hikmet was born in 1902 in Salonika. He was exposed to poetry at an early age through his artist mother and poet grandfather, and had his first poems published when he was seventeen. After receiving early recognition for his patriotic poems in syllabic meter, he came under the influence of the Russian Futurists in Moscow, and abandoned traditional forms while attempting to "depoetize" poetry. Many of his works have been translated into English, including Human Landscapes from My Country: An Epic Novel in Verse (2009), Things I Didn't Know I Loved (1975), The Day Before Tomorrow (1972), The Moscow Symphony (1970), and Selected Poems (1967). In 1936 he published Seyh Bedreddin destani ("The Epic of Shaykh Bedreddin") and Memleketimden insan manzaralari ("Portraits of People from My Land"). Hikmet died of a heart attack in Moscow in 1963. The first modern Turkish poet, he is recognized around the world as one of the great international poets of the twentieth century.

5. Orhan Veli Kanık (1914-1950) Orhan Veli was born in Istanbul. His father was a conductor of the Presidential Symphony Orchestra. Orhan Veli studied at the Ankara Gazi High School before he started his university education which lasted one year at Istanbul University's philosophy department before dropping out in 1935. He was employed by the Ministry of Education as a translator from 1945 to 1947. Later, he worked as a freelance translator and journalist. In 1949, he helped the publication of Yaprak, a literary magazine. As also evidenced from the contents of some of his deeply humorous poetry. He is known for advocating a poetry without excessive stylistic elements and adjectives, and preferring a style closer to free-verse. He is known for his unique voice, and depth of emotion underlying the seemingly easy-coming nature of his verse. His poetry is highly admired by the public as well as in academic circles.

6. Asik Veysel (1894 - 1973) Asik Veysel (Veysel Satiroglu) is among the minstrels of the Republican era. Born in the Sivrialan village of Sarkisla (district of Sivas), he lost his sight at the age of 7 during a smallpox epidemic. He developed his talents as he got familiar with the broken saz (string instrument) given to him by his father to keep him entertained, and as he listen to the wandering minstrels visiting Sivrialan. When both his mother and father died in 1920, he was left alone with his saz and the children of his elder brother. He gained recognition after 1931. He reached Ankara for the 10th year anniversary of the Republic established by Atatürk after traveling on foot for three months. He traveled around the country, reciting his poetry and playing his saz. He was a teacher of folk songs at various village institutes. His house he lived in Sivas was restored and converted into a museum in 1982. All poems of Asik Veysel were collected by Umit Yasar Oguzcan and published with the title "Let the Friends Remember Me" (1970). A book of collected works edited by U. Y. Oguzcan was also published in 1973 which includes his biography and articles written about him and his poetry.

7. Halide Edip Adivar (1884 - 1964) The renown novelist who was one of the heroes of the national independence movement, has written stories which could penetrate to the depths of human soul and which could excite the reader. She has proven herself as an analytical novelist which could effectively bring to life exceptional female characters who are sometimes hurt when faced with the eternal power of love and passion situations which also push the stories forward, but who never bend. This is seen particularly in "Seviye Talib" published in 1909, "Raik'in Annesi" (1910) and "Handan" (1912). She has also proven with her novel "Son Eseri", published in 1912 that she was a master of creating characters who are equipped with an unfailing love of art, and who posses an infinite source of excitement. She started publishing the paper Yeni Turan in the same year. Her most famous works are "Sinekli Bakkal", "Vurun Kahpeye", "Kalp Agrisi" and "Zeyno'nun Oglu".

8. Attilâ İlhan (1925 –2005) Attilâ İlhan was born in Menemen in İzmir Province, Turkey on 15 June 1925. He received most of his primary education in İzmir. However, because of his father's job, he completed his junior high school education in different cities. Aged 16 and enrolled in İzmir Atatürk High School, he got into trouble for sending a poem by Nazım Hikmet, a famous dissident communist Turkish poet, to a girl he was in love with. He was arrested and taken into custody for three weeks. He was also dismissed from school and jailed for two months. After his imprisonment, İlhan was forbidden from attending any schools in Turkey, thus interrupting his education. The poem, Cebbaroğlu Mehemmed won the second prize among many poems written by famous poets. He gratuated from high school in 1942 and enrolled in İstanbul University's law school. However, he left midway through his legal education to pursue his own endeavours and published his first poetry book, Duvar (The Wall).

9. CONTEPORARY TURKISH POETS AND WRITERS

10. ORHAN PAMUK Orhan Pamuk is a world famous and Nobel prize winner Turkish novelist from modern times. He was born in Istanbul on 7th of June 1952. During his childhood in Nisantasi neighborhood, he dreamed to become a painter so he kept painting until he was 22 years old. He was graduated from the Robert College high school in Istanbul and then went to Istanbul Technical University to study architecture. But after 3 years of architecture studies, he changed his mind and quit the school then studied journalism at the Istanbul University, but he didn't become a journalist neither. So, at the age of 23 he decided to become a writer and left everything behind to dedicate himself in writing. Orhan Pamuk became a writer in 1974. In 1979, his first novel "Karanlik ve Isik" (Darkness and Light from Turkish) won the first prize during the Milliyet Novel Competition. This novel was published as a book in 1982 under the name of "Cevdet Bey ve Ogullari" (Mister Cevdet and His Sons), and then he won another prize in 1983 with the same book at the Orhan Kemal Novel prizes. Many of his later books won also several international prizes all around the world, his novels are classified under the post-modern novels category. Orhan Pamuk won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2006, becoming the first Turkish citizen to win such a prize and one of the two youngest persons to get this prize

11. ELİF ŞAFAK Elif Shafak was born in Strasbourg, France, in 1971. She is an award- winning novelist and the most widely read woman writer in Turkey. Critics have named her as "one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary Turkish and world literature". Her books have been translated into more than thirty languages and she was awarded the honorary distinction of Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters. Shafak has published twelve books, eight of which are novels. She writes fiction in both Turkish and English. Shafak blends Western and Eastern traditions of storytelling, bringing out the myriad stories of women, minorities, immigrants, subcultures, youth and global souls. Her work draws on diverse cultures and literary traditions, as well as deep interest in history, philosophy, Sufism, oral culture, and cultural politics. Shafak's writing breaks down categories, clichés, and cultural ghettoes. She also has a keen eye for black humor.