Poet and writer
(b. 23 January 1951, Yavuz village / Şavşat / Artvin). He also used Şafak Onur
as a pen name. He received his primary education in his village. He graduated
from Artvin High School and Ankara Gazi Institute of Education, Department of
Turkish (1978). He received his degree at the Anatolian University. He worked
as a teacher for a while. He established Damar Publications in 1989 and the
review Damar in 1991. He wrote
Literature and Turkish lecture books. He is still working as owner and director
of the review Damar. He was arrested
due to his poetry book titled Dört Mevsim
Türküleri II (Four Season Folksongs
II) published in 1983 and his books were withdrawn from circulation, but later
he was acquitted. He is a member of the Human Rights Association and the
Turkish Authors Association.
His first works
appeared part in the reviews Varlık,
Tarla, Sanat in 1964. He published his articles and poems in the reviews, Damar, Kavram-Karmaşa, Evrensel Kültür,
İnsancıl, etc. In the following years in which he wrote about the
philosophical and contemporary issues of art although he did not neglect the
issues of social struggle and humanity. He writes in a powerful voice, which
takes its inspiration from the interwoven misery and happiness of life and
strives to live in a world without making concessions. He is known for his
poems on contemporary social issues. He won the 1992 Ministry of Culture Award
with his poem İnsanım Arıyorum (I am
Man, I am Searching), the Children’s Rights Association 1993 Best Children’s
Literature with his work Dört Mevsim
Türküleri (Four Season Folksongs) and the 2004 Ş.Avni Ölez Poetry Award
with Yaşadığımız
Kimi Saatler (Some Hours We Have Lived).
WORKS:
POETRY: Böldüm Yüreğimi Avuçlarına (My Heart
Broke in the Palm of Your Hand, 1976),
Dört Mevsim Türküleri 1 (Four Season
Folksongs I, children’s poems, 1978),
Dört Mevsim Türküleri 1I (Four Season Folksongs II, children’s poems, 1983), Dört Mevsim Türküleri (Four Season
Folksongs, two books together, 1993),
Sevmekten Başka (Except Loving, 1986),
Bugünü Yaşayan Kalır (Who Lives Today, Stays, 1986), Onyıl (Ten Years, 1991),
Kırkbeşlik Aşk Yalnızı (Forty-five-Year Old Lonely Love, 1997), Hayata Ufalanmış Şiirler (Poems of
Life Broken into Small Pieces, 1999), Yaşadığımız
Kimi Saatler (Some Hours We Have Lived, 2004).
