Mustafa Özçelik

Poet and writer (b. 1 November 1954, Günyüzü / Eskişehir). He attended Primary School in Günyüzü. He graduated from Eskişehir İmam Hatip High School (1972), Bursa Educational Institute, Department of Turkish (1975) and the Anatolian University, Department of Turkish Language and Literature (1991). He worked as a Turkish language and literature teacher in Nevşehir and Eskişehir (1976-78) and he taught at a private course in Kütahya (1988-93). He gave up lecturing at Kütahya Dumlupınar University and started teaching literature again. He retired in 2002.

His first poem was published in the review, Gelişme in 1975 and his first articles in the review Mavera in 1976. His poems, essays and memoirs were published in reviews such as Mavera (1978-86) and Yönelişler (1981-84), İlim ve Sanat (1986-87), Yedi İklim (1987-2000), Dolunay (1991-92), Dergâh (1990-2000), Kayıtlar (1991-95), Düşçınarı (1996-99), Kültür Dünyası (1997-98), Kırağı, Kardelen, Seviye, Kitap Dergisi, Kalem ve Onur, Güneysu, Kubbealtı Akademi, Bizim Külliye, Yansıma, Bir Nokta, Edebiyat Ortamı, Taşra Edebiyat, Yitik Düşler, Ay Vakti and Gül Çocuk. Due to the changes in his ideas between 1998-2000, he stated that he had had no material or spiritual relation with the poems he had published until that time. Interested in children’s literature as well, Özçelik has also carried out research for the Turkish Culture and Art Yearbook. He collected the Suffe Publishing House Poetry Award together Hasan Akay in 1984. He was honored as poet of the year by the review Kültür Dünyası in 1998 and as children’s novelist of the year by the Children’s Literature Writers and Artists Association in 2004.

WORKS:

POETRY: İfşa (Disclosure, 1985), Güle Yağmura ve Bahara Selam (Greetings to Rose, Rain and Spring, 1992), Serenat (Serenade, 1995), Dünyanın Tenhasında (In the Isolated World, 1996), Güneş ve Ayna (The Sun and the Mirror), Diriliş Türküsü (The Folk Song of Revival, 1997), Gül ve Hançer (Rose and Dagger, 2002).

ESSAY: Şiir İklimi (The Climate of a Poem, 1998).

SHORT STORY: Tales from Mevlânâ (English, 1995, Turkish-English, 1996), Kelile ve Dimne (Kelile and Dimne, 1990), Balıkçıl Kuşu ile Yengeç (The Heron and the Crab, 1990), Şehitler Tepesi (Hill of the Martyrs, 1992), Papağan Hikâyeleri (The Parrot Stories, 1990), Gülün Sırrı (Secret of the Rose, 1995), Son Günün Sevinci (Joy of the Last Day, 1999), Denizdeki Hazine (Treasure in the Sea, 2004), Bir Testi Su (A Pitcher of Water, 2004).

BIOGRAPHY: Yunus Emre (Yunus Emre, 1984), Samiha Ayverdi (Samiha Ayverdi, 2003), Sunullah Gaybi (Sunullah Gaybi, 004).

NOVEL: Şehitler Tepesi (Hill of the Martyrs, 1992).

MEMOIR: Mehmet Akif ve İstiklal Marşı (Mehmet Akif and the Turkish National Anthem, 2003).