Edib Polat

Novelist, researcher and translator (b. 25 July 1962, Kumrulu Village (Zengilo) / Bismil / Diyarbakır). He attended Çöltepe Primary School (1974), Batman Petrol Secondary School (1977) and graduated from Diyarbakır Teachers Training School (1980) and Dicle University, Faculty of Science and Literature (1987). He worked in Gümüşhane as a teacher, and then he gave lectures in a private school in Diyarbakır (1991-92) and was the chairman of a private institution in Ankara (1998-99). He worked at the Diyarbakır Metropolitan Municipality, Directorate of Culture.

His work appeared periodically in the newspaper Özgür Gündem and the review Emek starting from 1998. He was charged with producing separatist propaganda in his book Diyarbakır Gerçeği (The Diyarbakır Reality, 1989), but he was acquitted. In 1992, he was arrested again under the same charge for the books, Bilim Dilinde Kürtler (The Kurds in the Language of Science) and Newrozladık Şafakları (We Made Each Dawn a Newroz) and sentenced; his sentence for the first book was suspended but he was imprisoned for the latter. Because of his published books, he received the Freedom of Writing Award from the Human Rights Watch and the American PEN / Barbara Goldsmith Award in 1994. As well as his Turkish books he has also translated from English and written books in Kurdish.

WORKS:

MEMOIRS-ESSAY-RESEARCH: Diyarbakır Gerçeği (The Diyarbakır Reality, 1988), Newrozladık Şafakları (We Made Each Dawn a Newroz, 1996), Bilim Dilinde Kürtler ve Kürdistan The Kurds and Kurdistan in the Language of Science, 1992), Devletsiz Ülkeden İzdüşümler (Projections from a Country without Government, 1992).

NOVEL: Sevgilim Sevgisiz Ölüm (Dead, My Loveles Love, 1998), Berbangen Newroze (Berbangen Newroze, 1996, Stockholm, novel in Kurdish).

SHORT-STORY: Zinacı (Adulterous, 1999).

In addition, he has translated works connected to political issues.