Journalist and writer (b. 18
December 1933, Rumelihisarı / İstanbul). His full name is Mehmet Orhan Duru. He
has also written using the pen name Cüneyt Gabran. He graduated from Ankara
University, Veterinary Faculty in 1956. He worked as a veterinarian in İstanbul
and Şanlıurfa for two years and then he studied at the same faculty as an
assistant. He was one of the 147 lecturers who were dismissed from the
university after 27 May 1960. After this, he began to work as a journalist. He
worked for Ulus newspaper in 1961,
and then he worked for the newspapers Cumhuriyet,
Milliyet, Güneş, Hürriyet and Yeni Yüzyıl. He worked as a news
director for Interstar TV for two years. Now he is a freelance writer. He is a
member of the Journalists Association of Turkey (honor board), the Journalists
Association of Ankara, the Journalists Union of Turkey and the Writers
Syndicate of Turkey.
He
started his literary works with poetry and then continued with short story
writing. His first short story, Kadın ve
İçki (Women and Alcohol), was published in Küçük Dergi in 1953. Then his articles and stories were published
in the magazines YeniUfuklar, Mavi,
Evrim, Pazar Postası, Seçilmiş Hikâyeler, Yelken, Dost, Soyut, Varlık, Milliyet
Sanat and Gösteri. In 1970, he received the Achievement
Award at the Turkish Radio and Television Corporation Art Awards Competition
with his story İşçiler (Workers). He
received the Sedat Simavi Association Literature Award in 1996 with Sarmal –Toplu Öyküler (Spiral-Collected
Stories). With Fırtına (Storm), he
shared the Saik Faik Short Story Award in 1997 with Erdal Öz.
WORKS:
SHORT STORY: Bırakılmış Biri (The One Who was Left,
1959), Denge Uzmanı (Balance Expert,
1962), Ağır İşçiler (Hard Workers,
1974), Yoksullar Geliyor (The Poor
are Coming, 1982), Şişe (The Bottle,
1989), Bir Büyülü Ortamda (In a Magic
Atmosphere, 1991), Sarmal (Spiral,
collected stories, 1996), Fırtına
(Storm, 1997), Yeni ve Sert Öyküler
(New, Harsh Stories, 2001), Düşümde ve
Dışımda (In My Dream and Out of Myself, 2003).
ESSAY: Kıyı Kıyı Kent Kent (From Shore to Shore from City to City, 1977:
republished with the name Mavi
Gezi -Blue Journey, 1986), Hormonlu
Kafalar (Hormonal Brains, 1992), İstanbulin
(Of İstanbul, 1994), Tango Geceleri
(Tango Nights, 1999), Durgun ve İşsiz (Silent and Unemployed, 2005).
RESEARCH: Amerikan Gizli Belgeleriyle Türkiye’nin
Kurtuluş Yılları (Turkey’s Independence Years through Secret American
Documents, 2002).
MEMOIR: Operadaki Hayalet (The Ghost at the Opera, in collaboration with
Sezer Duru, 1996).
PLAY (Adaptation): Durdurun Dünyayı İnecek Var (Stop the
World, I Want to Get off, by Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricuss, 1996), Sınırdaki Ev (The House on the Boundary
by Slawomir Mrozek, 1970), Üzbik Baba
(Üzbik Father, from King Übü by
Alfred Jarry, 1990).
COLLECTION: Kısas-ı Enbiya
(Retaliation of the Prophets, 1979).
Also he has translated works
from English.
