Poet (b. 21 October 1944, Erzurum). He
attended Namık Kemal High School in İzmir. He studied at Ankara University,
Faculty of Language, History and Geography, Department of Sinology but did not
graduate. He worked as a topographer at the Turkish Electricity Authority. He
studied drama, theatre and film at the Swedish Lund University. From 1973 on,
he lived in Sweden, and after 1981, he worked as a producer at the Swedish
National Radio Department of Turkish Broadcasting and as consultant at cultural
institutions.
Mert,
who took up poetry in early 1960’s in İzmir, experienced the turmoil of the
events in ’68. He became one of the pioneering protest poets of the 60’s
generation with his book Kuracağız Her Şeyi Yeniden (We Will
Re-establish Everything, 1969), which was banned right after its publication.
His first poems were published in the arts page of the newspaper Demokrat
İzmir, which was edited by Atilla İlhan, and others in the reviews Evrim,
Devinim, Alam 67, Soyut, Dönemeç, Militan, Halkın Dostları, Dost, Ada, Papirüs,
İnsan, Varlık and Broy. He received the Yunus Nadi Honorary Mention
and İlhan Demiraslan Poetry Award in 1990 and the Salihli Poetry Afternoon
'Migrant Poets' Award. He is a member of the Writers Syndicate of Turkey, the
Turkish Authors Association, the Turkish PEN Association of Writers, the
Swedish Writers Association, the Swedish Writers Union and the Swedish PEN
Committee for Imprisoned Writers. His poems have been included in international
anthologies, such as Modern Türk Şiiri (Modern Turkish Poetry) by Feyyaz
Kayacan and Meeting in Sweden by Eva Dahlström.
WORKS:
POETRY:
Kuracağız Her Şeyi Yeniden (We Will Re-establish Everything, 1969), Kırlangıçlar
(Swallows, 1978), Irgatoğlu Atçalı Kel Mehmet (Irgatoğlu Atçalı Kel
Mehmet, epic poem, 1970), İşte Hayat! İşte Ölüm ve Tarih! (Here is Life!
Here is Death and History!, 1984), Stockholm'de Mavi Saatler (Blue Hours
in Stockholm, 1987), Dünya Çarpıyor Yüzüme (The World Hits My Face,
1988), Allah ve Tango (God and Tango, 1990), Mozart ve Akdeniz (Mozart
and the Mediterranean Sea, 1992), Bir Irmakla Düello Ediyorum (I’m
Fighting A Duel With a River, 1995), Bir Dünyalının Notları (Notes of an
Earthling, all poems, 1997), Kentlerin Senfonisi (Symphony of Cities,
2000), ... Van Gölü Savunması (Defense of Van Lake, 2001), Nehir (River,
all poems, 2002).
Besides these, he has
a poetry cassette recording with the title Diren! Ey Kalbim (Resist! Oh
My Heart, 1998)
CHILDREN’S
LITERATURE: Sanem Okula Başlıyor (Sanem
Starts to the School, 1981).
SWEDISH:
Kâmpa Mitt Hjarta / Diren Ey Kalbim,
(Resist Oh My Heart, poems translated into Swiss, 1981), Tango Över Egeiska Havet (Tango on the Aegean Sea, poetry cassette
recording, 1990), Exilens Blues
(Exile Blues, 1999), Försvarstal Över
Vansjön (Defense of Van Lake, 2003), Svenska
Kvinnors Kârleksdikter (Anthology of Love Poems by Swedish Women, 1998).
In addition, he
collected his translations of poems in several anthologies.
