Storywriter and novelist (b. 10 March
1968, Mannheim / Germany). His full name is Mehmet Cem Akaş. Also he has used
Levend Eğriboz and James Whitbread as pen names. He came to Turkey when he was
6 years old. He attended Robert College and graduated from Boğaziçi University,
Department of Chemistry. He started his master’s on political science at
Boğaziçi University and continued his master’s program at New York Columbia
University. Then he returned to Boğaziçi University to start his doctorate on
Turkish Political History. He worked as a proofreader, translator, editor and
editor-in-chief at Yapı Kredi Publications beginning in 1991 and in 1999 he
began to work as a publication advisor.
Between 1996 and 1999 he managed Cogito, Kitap-lık and Sanat Dünyamız reviews published by the
same organization. He established SonKişot with Cenk Koyuncu. He made a
TV program called Okudukça (As We
Read) prepared with Enis Batur and which he presented himself (1993-94). Also
he has a talent for composing music and continues this work in İstanbul. His
first short story called Gerçeğin Öte Yanında (On the Other Side of The
Truth) was published in the review Gergedan (1987) and then his short stories,
essays and translations were published in Gergedan,
Argos, Kitap-lık and Sanat Dünyamız reviews
in the following years. In 1993, he rejected the “Ones at the Summit”
Literature Award given by the review Nokta.
WORKS:
SHORT STORY: Noktanın Kesişimleri Antolojisi (Anthology of Intersections of a
Point, 1990), Gizli Hava Müzesi (Secret Air Museum, 1995), Aşkın Zembereği Uyandığında Kadın Halâ Yanımdaydı (The Woman was Still by My Side When the
Watch Spring of Love Woke Up, 2000).
NOVEL: 7 (Seven, 1992), Suç ve Ceza (Crime
and Punishment, 1992), Balığın Esir
Düştüğü Yer (The Place Where the Fish was Taken Prisoner, 2000), Olgunluk Çağı Üçlemesi I (Trilogy of
Maturity I, 2001), Sönmemiş Kireç (Flicked Lime) Olgunluk Çağı Üçlemesi II (Trilogy
of Maturity II, 2001), Oyun İmparatorluğu
(Game Empire) Olgunluk Çağı Üçlemesi
III (Trilogy of Maturity III, 2001).
PROSE-POETRY: Belkienisbatur (Perhaps Enis Batur, 19-93).
ESSAY: İse (If, 1999;
expanded 2nd edition İse, Ki
Değil - Nadüz Yazılar- If, Though Not - Texts not in Prose, 2001).
COLLECTION: Gorbaçov'un Rusyası (Gorbachev’s Russia, 1995), Kavramlar ve Bağlamlar Arasında (Between
the Concepts and the Contexts, 2002).
STUDY: 11 Eylül Bir Saldırının Yankıları (11 September: Echoes of an
Attack, edition with Tamer Erdoğan, Bedirhan Toprak, Fatma Canpolat and Ali
Ece, 2001).
INTERVIEW: Kavramlar ve Bağlamlar Arasında-20. Yüzyıl
Düşünürleriyle Söyleşiler (Between
the Concepts and the Contexts- Interviews with 21st Century
Intellectuals, 2002).