Ahmet Ümit

Storywriter and thriller writer (b. 30 September 1960, Gaziantep). He attended primary and secondary school in Gaziantep and graduated from Marmara University, Department of Public Administration (1983). He also studied at the Academy of Social Sciences in Moscow between 1985-1986. Later on, he worked in the advertising business (1989-96). He published the review Yine Hişt (1990-98). He continues working in İstanbul. He is a member of the Writers Syndicate of Turkey.

He wrote his first short story in 1983. His first poem appeared in the review Adam Sanat. His other poems, short stories and articles were published in the reviews Adam Sanat, Yine Hişt, Öküz and Cumhuriyet Kitap, and in the newspaper Yeni Yüzyıl. After 1995, he wrote reviews and introductions on Franz Kafka, Dostoyevsky, Patricia Highsmith and Edgar Allan Poe and some writers of detective novels. His first short story book with the title Çıplak Ayaklıydı Gece (The Night was Bare-Footed) received the Ferit Oğuz Bayır Thought and Arts Award in 1992. He also participated in the writing of screenplays and stories of detective series filmed for the Turkish television channel ATV.

He described the relation between man and faith in a mystical story of tension in his first storybook. Later, in his detective stories, he attempted to reflect the attitude and psychology of someone before committing a crime, with examples from crimes in Turkey. The feeling of tension, which prevails in almost all his works, was clearly expressed in his novel Sis ve Gece (Mist and Night), which was published in 1996. Here, he presented the effects of politics on the destiny of a man during a murder investigation. The novel was a hit and was a matter of debate. It was published in Greece and became the first Turkish thriller to be translated into a foreign language.

WORKS:

POETRY: Sokağın Zulası (Street Cache, 1989).

SHORT STORY: Çıplak Ayaklıydı Gece (The Night was Bare-footed, 1992), Bir Ses Böler Geceyi (A Sound Divides the Night, long story, 1994), Agatha'nın Anahtarı (The Key of Agatha, 1999), Şeytan Ayrıntıda Gizlidir (The Devil Hidden in the Detail, 2002).

NOVEL: Sis ve Gece (Mist and Night, 1996), Kar Kokusu (Smell of Snow, 1998), Patasana (Deadlock, 2000), Kukla (Puppet, 2002).

CHILDREN’S LITERATURE: Masal Masal İçinde (Tale in a Tale, 1995). 

REFERENCE: Emine Bora / Sis ve Gece ve Kar ve Kokusu ve... (Virgül, sayı: 8, Mayıs 1998), TDE Ansiklopedisi (2001), Erdem Öztop / Polisiye, Ahmet Ümit ve “Kukla” (Cumhuriyet Kitap, 9.5.2002), Mustafa Alagöz / Sis ve Gece (Radikal Kitap, 15.10.2002), Deniz Durukan / Ahmet Ümit’le “Şeytan Ayrıntıda Gizlidir” Üzerine: “İyi Roman Her Şeydir!” - Altay Öktem / Türkiye’nin Cinayet Profili (Cumhuriyet Kitap, 31.10.2002), Erdem Öztop / Şeytan Ayrıntıda Gizlidir (Radikal Kitap, 9.1.2003), İhsan Işık / Yazarlar Sözlüğü (1990, 1998) - Türkiye Yazarlar Ansiklopedisi (2001, 2004) – Encyclopedia of Turkish Authors (2005) - Resimli ve Metin Örnekli Türkiye Edebiyatçılar ve Kültür Adamları Ansiklopedisi (2006, gen. 2. bas. 2007) - Ünlü Edebiyatçılar (Türkiye Ünlüleri Ansiklopedisi, C. 4, 2013) - Encyclopedia of Turkey’s Famous People (2013).