Novelist (b. 1944,
Menemen / İzmir - d. 02 Fabruary 2024, Istanbul). She is
from a Rumelian family. The playwright Musahipzade Celal was her mother’s
great-uncle. She attended Mimar Kemal Primary School in Ankara and completed
her primary education at Erzurum Kültür Kurumu Primary School. She went to
Japan with her family when she had completed her education at Ankara Namık
Kemal Secondary School. She graduated from THA American School in Japan and
from the Middle East Technical University, Department of Economy and Statistics
in 1965. She went to the United States on Fulbright scholarship and completed
her postgraduate education at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee
(1968). She also studied philosophy and theology at Dartmouth College.
Meanwhile, she worked as an academician
at Maine State in United States between 1968 and 1969 and gave lectures of
economy of growth at Caan College (1969). She continued working on her studies
of religion in Turkey and Cairo after returning from the United States. She
went to United States again after working as a specialist at İstanbul
University and the State Planning Organization for two years (1970- 72). She
did research at California University (1973- 74). In İstanbul she took part in
the psycho- language project that was arranged by Berkeley and she published
the review Bizim English, a Turkish
based English teaching review, in association with the newspaper Cumhuriyet (1981- 84). She was the Vice
President of the Writers Cooperative Board (1984- 85).
She has focused on writing since 1984.
Her many articles have been published in the reviews Nokta, Yazko Somut, Türk Edebiyatı etc. and her interviews, in the
newspaper Zaman (1986). She won the
Writers Union of Turkey Novel Award in 1987 with her novel İşkenceci (The Tormentor).
WORKS:
NOVEL: Yaseminler Tüter mi Hâlâ (Do Jasmines Still Give Off Smoke?, 1985), Paslanmış Mesih (Rusty Christ, 1986), İşkenceci (The Tormentor, 1986), Viva
ESSAY: Aydın Despotizmi (Intel–lectual Despotism, 1986), Kadere Karşı Koy A.Ş. (Resist the Fate
Inc., 1995), Eylül 1998 (September
1998, 1999).
REFERENCE: 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), Behçet Necatigil / Edebiyatımızda İsimler Sözlüğü (18. bas. 1999), Şükran Kurdakul / Şairler ve Yazarlar Sözlüğü (gen. 6. bas. 1999), Mehmet Nuri Yardım / Romancılar Konuşuyor (2000; Aydınları Sorgulayan Romancı Alev Alatlı: Aydın İhanet İçinde, s. 193-196), Erkin Çam / Schrödinger‘in Kedisi (Cumhuriyet Kitap, 7.9.2000), TBE Ansiklopedisi (2001), Zafer Özcan / Alev Alatlı ile Türkiye ve Dünya (2003), Alev Alatlı kitapları (idefix.com, 16.06.2019).
