Poet (b. 23 July 1925, Karainebeyli
village / Çanakkale). He has also written under pen names such as Arif Barikat,
Arif Hüsnü, Arif İbrahim and Ece Ovalı. He is the son of Hacı Hüsnü Efendi who
was a teacher in the village where he was born. He attended primary school in
Çanakkale and İstanbul Yenikapı Secondary School (1941). He discontinued high
school (1943). He worked as a civil servant and peddler in İstanbul. He spent
two years in prison when he was arrested under article 141of the Turkish
Criminal Code in 1951. He worked as an accountant for a company in Ankara for a
time. He ran a publishing house in Suadiye between 1969 and 1984. Afterwards he
concentrated on literature.
His poetry has been published in the
reviews such as Yeni İnsanlık, İnsan,
Yeryüzü (administration), Dost,
Yelken, Yeditepe, Türkiye Yazıları and
Milliyet Sanat. He was put on trial for some of his books but was
acquitted. He won the Yeditepe Poetry Award in 1959 with his book İstanbul Bulutu (The Cloud of İstanbul).
WORKS (Poetry):
Günden
Güne (Day by Day,
1956; new poems added 1986), İstanbul
Bulutu (The Cloud of İstanbul, 1958), Kedi
Aklı (Cat Wit, 1959), Saat Sekizi Geç
Vurdu (It’s Way Past Eight, 1962), Alıcı
Kuş (Bird of Prey, 1966), Seslerin
Ayak Sesleri (Footsteps of Voices, 1975), Ölüm Yok ki (There is No Dead, 1980), Ay Ayakta Değildi (The Moon Was Not Standing, 1984), Acı Ertelenirken (While Pain Was
Delayed, selections from his poetry, 1985), Günden
Güne (Day By Day, 1986), Yoksulduk
Dünyayı Sevdik (We Were Poor but We Loved the World, 1988), Ay Kar Toplamaz ki (The Moon Does Not
Gather Snow, 1990), Onarırken Kendini
(While Repairing Himself, 1992), Eski
Yağmurları Dinliyordum (I Listened to the Old Rain, 1995), Kırık Makara (The Broken Spool, 2004), Külliyen
Red (All Red, 2004).