Metin Cengiz

Translator, Writer, Poet

Birth
03 May, 1953
Education
Erzurum Atatürk University Schools of Basic Sciences and Foreign Languages Department of French
Horoscope

Poet and translator (b. 3 May 1953, Göle / Kars -now Ardahan-). He attended the Göle Primary School (1964), Kars Alparslan High School (1972), and graduated from Erzurum Atatürk University, Schools of Basic Sciences and Foreign Languages, Department of French (1977). During his years at the university, he worked as a civil officer at the State Institute of Statistics for a short time (1973). He was arrested several times for publishing political reviews and participating in illegal actions. He worked as a teacher of French at high schools in Erzurum (1977-78), Posof (1977-1978), Kars (1977-1980), Artova (1980-1983), İstanbul (1983-1987) and Muş (1987). Meanwhile, he completed his studies at Marmara University, Department of French.

After the military coup on 12 September 1980, he was imprisoned for 2 years with the Article 141 of Turkish Penal Code. During his years as a teacher, he was kept under custody for a while, and was sent to exile both in and outside the city and his duty was suspended. After working as a teacher in Muş, he resigned from his duty, returned back to İstanbul and began to work as a proofreader, editor and translator at publishing houses. He resumed teaching after 1993 and was retired in 2002. Besides working as a translator, he wrote particularly on the problems of poetry in the reviews Hürriyet Gösteri, Varlık and in various newspapers. He established the Diagraf Publishing House in 2005, in collaboration with his friends, to publish poems and articles on the problems of poetry.

His first article titled Nasıl Şiir (What Kind of a Poetry) was published in the newspaper Demokrat, and his other articles were published in the reviews Broy, Varlık, Adam Sanat, Edebiyat ve Eleştiri, Bahçe (Antalya), Islık (Mersin), Şiir Odası (Ankara), Düşün, Yasakmeyve, Parantez and Yazko Edebiyat. He prepared and presented a television program titled “Şiir ve Resim” (Poetry and Painting) on Karadeniz TV in 1988. He collected the Behçet Necatigil Poetry Award in 1996 with his book titled Şarkılar Kitabı (The Book of Songs). He is a member of Writers Syndicate of Turkey, the Association of Turkish PEN Writers and the Turkish Authors Association.

He has established a poetry, which benefits from tradition by challenging it, which reflects the realities of the modern world and which tries to elaborate them in depth with the realities of life and with his world of emotions within the integrity of his personality. Recognized with his articles on poetry in his early period, the poet has become one of the pioneers of the period after 1980, with his theoretical articles and discussions on poetry. Some of these articles were published in a book with title Şiirin Gücü (The Power of Poetry, 1993).

WORKS:

POETRY: Bir Tufan Sonrası (After A Deluge, 1988), Büyük Sevişme (The Great Love, 1989), Zehirinde Açan Zambak (The Lilies that Bloom in its Poison, 1991), İpek'e (To İpek, 1993), Şarkılar Kitabı (The Book of Songs, 1995), Gençlik Çağı (Juvenile Years, 1998), Günümüzde Hüzzamlar (The Hüzzam Compositions Today, 2005, all poems).

ESSAY-CRITICISM-STUDY: Şiirin Gücü (The Power of Poetry, 1993; second edition 2005), 1923–1953 Toplumcu Gerçekçi Şiir (The Socialist-Realist Poetry between 1923-1953, 2000), Modernleşme ve Modern Şiirimiz (Modernism and Our Modern Poetry, 2002), Şiir, Din ve Cinsellik (Poetry, Religion and Sexuality, 2005), Şiir, Dil ve Şiirsel Anlam (Poetry, Language and Poetic Meaning, 2005), Nâzım’dan 70’li Yıllara Türk Şiirine Eleştirel Bir Bakış (A Critical Look on Turkish Poetry from Nazım to 70’s, 2005), Antoloji Tartışmaları (Discussions on Anthologies, 2005), Şiir, Biçim, Biçem-Şiirin Teorik Sorunları (The Poetry, Format, Style –Theoretical Problems of Poetry, 2005).   

INTERVIEW: Hayat, Edebiyat, Siyaset-Ahmet Oktay ile Dünden Bugünden (Life, Literature, Politics – With Ahmet Oktay from Yesterday and Present, 2004).

Besides, he translated many works from western writers and poets such as Max Jacob, Aimé Cesaire, Pablo Neruda, Eugene Guillevic, Jacques Prevert and Jules Laforgue.

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