Novel and storywriter (b. 1936, İstanbul, d. 22 November 1976, London).
She spent a great deal of her life in Ankara, where her family had settled
during her childhood due to her father’s job. After she graduated from Ankara
High School for Girls and Ankara University, Faculty of Language, History and
Geography, Department of Classical Philology, she studied archeology and
theater education at Göttingen University in Germany (1957-58). When she
returned to Turkey she first worked at the German Embassy. When 12 March came,
she was working at the Turkish Radio and Television Corporation and like many
intellectuals and writers, she too, without any particular reason, was
arrested. She returned from her house arrest in Yıldırım Area Women’s Dormitory
with the novels, stories, and memoirs that she had continuously wrote. Later
on, again on account of one of her books, she was sentenced and lived in exile
for four months in Adana.
She published her articles and books under the name Sevgi Nutku when she
was married to Özdemir Nutku; Sevgi Sabuncu when she was married to Başar
Sabuncu; and finally, Sevgi Soysal when she was married to Mümtaz Soysal. She
died in London whilst receiving treatment for cancer; she is buried in
Zincirlikuyu Graveyard.
Her essays and stories were published in Dost, Yelken, Ataç, Yeditepe and
Değişim beginning from 1960, and from 1965 in Papirüs and especially in Yeni
Dergi (1965-69). Her first novel Yürümek
(To Walk), with which she received the Turkish Radio and Television Corporation
Achievement Award in the 1970 Art Awards Contest, was confiscated on the claim
that it was obscene. She also won the 1974 Orhan Kemal Novel Award with Yenişehir’de Bir Öğle Vakti (An
Afternoon in Yenişehir). Her books were re-published in 8 volumes by Bilgi
Publishing House.
WORKS:
SHORT STORY: Tutkulu Perçem (Passionate
Locks of Hair, 1962), Tante
Rosa (Aunt Rosa, 1968), Barış Adlı
Çocuk (The Boy Named Barış, 1976).
NOVEL: Yürümek
(To Walk, 1970), Yenişehir’de Bir Öğle
Vakti (An Afternoon in Yenişehir, 1973), Şafak (Dawn, 1975), Hoş
Geldin Ölüm (Welcome Death, her unfinished final novel, with her first
story book Passionate Bangs, 1980).
MEMOIR: Yıldırım
Bölge Kadınlar Koğuşu (Yıldırım Area Women’s Dormitory, 1976).
ANECDOTE: Bakmak (To Look, 1977).