Storywriter and novelist (b. 15 June 1929,
Akçaköy / Yeşilova / Burdur – d. 11 October 1999, Essen / Germany). After
attending the Akçaköy Elementary School (1943) and the Isparta-Gönen Village
Institute (1948), he worked as an elementary school teacher for five years and
graduated from the Ankara Gazi Institute of Education (1955).
He worked as a teacher of Turkish in Yeşilova,
Hafik, Konya and Şavşat, and as an inspector of elementary schools in the
districts of Ankara. He became the president of the Teachers Union of Turkey
and the Association of All Teachers Unity and Solidarity, where he was one of
the founders. He worked as an expert at the National Folklore Institute (1967),
the director of the Public Relations and Publication in the Middle East
Technical University, and a counselor at the Ministry of Culture (1978). He was
sent to Germany by the Ministry of National Education. He was arrested and
tried after the military coup on 12 March (1971) for the case of the Teachers
Union of Turkey, and was once again tried in 1975 for the same case; however,
he was acquitted. He moved to Duisburg in Germany in 1979, where he worked as
an educational adviser until 1995. After 1963, he traveled across the United
States, Jamaica, China, Australia, and many European and Central Asian
countries. He was a member of the Turkish Language Association, the Writers
Syndicate of Turkey, the Turkish Authors Association and the Union of German
Writers. His wife was Muzaffer Baykurt (Küçük). He had three sons called Işık
(b. 1957), Sönmez (b. 1959) and Tonguç (b. 1962).
His first worked with the title Fesleğen
Kokulum (My Darling with Sweet Basil Smell) was published in the June-July
1945 issue of the review Türk'e Doğru in Eskişehir. In the following
years, he published his short stories, poems and articles in the reviews and
newspapers Köy Enstitüsü Dergisi (1945-46), Kaynak (1947-55), Yücel
(1949), Yeni Ufuklar (1951-76), Varlık (1949-95), Yeditepe
(1952-85), İmece (1960-70), Türk Dili Dergisi (1965-75), Cumhuriyet
(1959-95), Öncü (1960), A-b-c ve Öğretmen Dünyası (1980-95)
and Evrensel (1995-96).
His novel with the title Yılanların Öcü
(The Revenge of the Snakes) was also adapted to cinema and was translated into
German, and ranked first at the Yunus Nadi Novel Award in 1958. Tırpan
(The Scythe) brought him the Turkish Radio and Television Corporation Novel
Award in 1970, the Turkish Language Association Novel Award in 1971, and the
Avni Dilligil Theatre Award in 1980. He collected the Sait Faik Short Story
Award in 1974 with Can Pazarı (The Massacring Place), the Orhan Kemal
Novel Award in 1978 with Kara Ahmet Destanı (The Epic of Kara Ahmed),
and his novel for children Sakarca (Clumsily) was elected as the play of
the year in 1979 by the review Tiyatro 79. Besides, he received the
Berlin Senate Children's Literature Award in 1984 and the German Industrial
Association Culture Award in 1985.
WORKS:
NOVEL: Yılanların Öcü (The Revenge of
the Snakes, 1959), Irazca'nın Dirliği (The Order of Irazca, 1961), Onuncu
Köy (The Tenth Village, 1961), Kerem ile Aslı (Kerem and Aslı,
1964), Amerikan Sargısı (American Bandage, 1967), Kaplumbağalar
(The Turtles, 1967), Tırpan (The Scythe, 1970), Köygöçüren (The
Village-Mover, 1973), Keklik (The Partridge, 1975), Kara Ahmet
Destanı (The Epic of Kara Ahmed, 1977), Yayla (The Plateau, 1977), Yüksek
Fırınlar (High Ovens, 1983), Koca Ren (The Great Ren, 1986), Yarım
Ekmek (Half a Bread, 1997).
SHORT STORY: Çilli (The Freckled,
1955), Efendilik Savaşı (The War for Mastership, 1959), Karın Ağrısı
(Ache in the Stomach, 1961), Cüce (The Dwarf, 1964), Anadolu Garajı
(The Garage of Anatolia, 1970), Onbinlerce Kağnı (Ten Thousands of Ox
Carts, 1971), Can Pazarı (The Massacring Place, 1973), Kale Kale
(Castle by Castle, 1978), İçerdeki Oğul (The Son Inside, 1974), Sınırdaki
Ölü (The Dead on the Border, 1975), Gece Vardiyası (The Night Shift,
1982), Barış Çöreği (The Cake of Peace, 1982), Duisburg Treni (The
Duisburg Train, 1986), Bizim İnce Kızlar (Our Thin Girls, 1992), Dikenli
Tel (The Barded Wire, 1998), Anamla Yıllar (Years with My Mother),
Rur Havzası'nda (In the Basin of Rur), Türk Bahçeleri (The Turkish
Gardens), Ateşdikenleri (The Thorns of Fire).
FOLK TALE: Kerem ile Aslı (Kerem and
Aslı, 1964).
CHILDREN’S LITERATURE: Topal Arkadaş (The Lame Friend, 1964), Sarı Köpek (The Yellow Dog, 1964), Sakarca (Clumsily, 1975), Yandım Ali (Yandım Ali, 1979), Dünya Güzeli (Miss World, 1985), Saka Kuşları (The Goldfinches, 1985).
ESSAY-RESEARCH: Efkâr Tepesi (The Hill of Wistful
Sadness, 1960), Şamaroğlanları (The
Whipping Boys, 1976), Yeni Kölelik mi?
(New Slavery?, 1996), Benli Yazılar
(Essays with Me, 1998).
POETRY: Bir Uzun Yol (A Long Way, 1989).
MEMOIR: Özüm Çocuktur (My Heart is Childish,
1998), Köy Enstitülü Delikanlı (The
Young Man from the Village Institute, 1999), Kavacık Köyünün Öğretmeni (The Teacher of the Village Kavacık,
2000), Köşe Bucak Anadolu (Anatolia
with Every Nook and Cranny, 2001), Bir
TÖS Vardı (There Was Once a the Teachers Union of Turkey, 2001), Genç Emekli (The Young Retired, 2002), Sıladan Uzakta (Far from the Motherland,
2002), Dost Yüzleri (Faces of
Friends, portraits, 2002).
TRAVEL LITERATURE: Dünyanın Öte Ucu (The
Other Edge of the World).