Poet (b. 1917, Çeltek village / Zile /
Tokat - d. 20 June 1997, İstanbul). He attended Niksar Gazi Ahmed Danişmend
Primary School (1929), Sivas High School (1936) and graduated from the
Department of Turkish Language and Literature of the Istanbul School of Teacher
Training (1940). He worked as a teacher
of literature at Ankara and Antalya High Schools and Ankara State Conservatory
(1942-54) and later as an inspector of Public Education (1956-60). He lived in
Sweden from 1960 to 1964 as a cultural attaché and a student inspector. In
1970, he was appointed assistant undersecretary at the Ministry of Culture.
After retiring, he served as the Secretary General of the Turkish Language
Association (1972-83). His office was terminated with the closure of the
association (1983) and Külebi joined the Social Democratic Party and embarked
on a career on politics.
His first poems were published in the
review Gençlik (1938), beginning in
1938, and later on in Sokak (1940), İnsan (1941), Varlık, Yaratış (1944-46),
Türk Dili, Hisar, Söz. In his lyric
poems, where he benefited from traditional folk poetry, he tried to reflect the
reality of Anatolia. In his last poems, he employed a new style of discourse.
The poems in his book Atatürk Kurtuluş
Savaşında (Atatürk in the War of Independence) were set to music by Nüvit Kodallı in
Atatürk Oratoryosu (Oratorio for
Atatürk, 1953). He collected the Turkish Language Association Literature Award
in 1955 for his book Yeşeren Otlar (Growing
Grass) and the Yeditepe Poetry Prize
in 1981 for Yangın (Fire).
WORKS:
POETRY: Adamın Biri (One Man, 1946), Rüzgâr
(The Wind, 1949), Atatürk Kurtuluş
Savaşında (Atatürk in the War of Independence, 1952), Yeşeren Otlar (Growing Grass, 1954), Süt (Milk, 1965), Şiirler
(Poems, all poems, 1969), Sıkıntı
(Boredom, 1980), Bütün Şiirleri (All
Poems, 1982), Güz Türküleri (Autumn
Songs, 1991).
ESSAY: Şiir Her Zaman (Poetry Forever, 1985).
MEMOIR: İçi Sevda Dolu Yolculuk (The Journey Full of Love, 1986).
