Şaban M. Kalkan

Poet (b. 25 October 1938, Şeremet Village (Veselets) / Razgrat / Bulgaria). His full name is Şaban Mahmudoğlu Kalkan. He has also used Şaban Mahmudov as a pen name. He was educated at primary and secondary school in his village. After graduation from Balpınar (Kubrat) Turkish High School, he worked as a teacher for some time. Then he studied at Hasköy (Haskovo) Medical Vocational School and later at Şumnu Teacher Training School. He worked as a medical officer some years. In 1989, he immigrated to Turkey and settled in İzmir. In 1990, he began working at the İzmir Alsancak State Hospital, Department of Radiology and retired in 2003. He is a member of the Writers Union of Bulgaria, the Cyprus, Balkans and Eurasia Turkish Literature Institution (as a representative of Turkey for some time). He is fluent in Bulgarian and Russian.

Şaban Mahmut, who has successfully made use of free verse as well as syllabic meter, has tried to praise the system of government in some of his poems, affected by the realities of socialism. In his poems for children, the main themes are peace, happiness, love of people and nature and the desire to progress.  His poems were published in newspapers and reviews published in Sofia such as Eylülcü Çocuk, Halk Gençliği, Yeni Işık, Yeni Hayat, Sofya, beginning in 1955. In 1968 he collected the Golden Ring Poetry Award in Sofia, the September Poetry Award from the newspaper Yeni Işık Sofya in 1971, the Razgrat Liberation Poetry Award in 1974 and the Union of Bulgarian Poets Liberty Poetry Award in 1984. His poems have been translated into Bulgarian, Russian, English, Hungarian, Polish and Hebrew. He wrote reviews of Turkish artists in Bulgaria and the Balkans for the review Kardeş Edebiyatlar.

WORKS:

POETRY: Gerginlik (Tension, Sofia, 1966), Sevda Rüzgârı (Wind of Love, 1968), Deliorman Şarkıları (Songs of Deliorman, 1974), Yabancı Değilim (I am not Stranger, 1976).

CHILDREN’S POETRY: Turnalar (Cranes 1998).

ANTHOLOGY: Şiir Gecesi (Nights of Poetry, poems of poets writing in Turkish, living in Cyprus, the Balkans and Europe, 1998).

Besides these, he translated short stories by Konstanstin Poustouski.

REFERENCE: İbrahim Tatarlı / Şaban Mahmudov (Antoloji, Sofya, 1964), Petya Yordanova / İskreno i Razvılnuvano (Samimi ve Heyecanlı, Yeni Işık-Nova Svetlina, 4 Mart 1982), Ünal Şenel / Şaban Mahmudoğlu Kalkan Şiirinin Ana Çizgileri (Kardaş Edebiyatlar, Sayı: 22, 1992), Serpil Ural (Çoluk Çocuk dergisi, Aralık 2002), Hayriye Süleymanoğlu Yenisoy / Bulgaristan Türk Çocuk Edebiyatından Örnekler (2002), Sabahattin Bayramöz / Türkçenin Sarmaşıkları (2002), Dinçer Sezgin / Yaşamı Anlatan Sözcükler (Radikal, 22.11.2003), İhsan Işık - Türkiye Yazarlar Ansiklopedisi (Cilt: 2, 2004) - The Encyclopedia  Of  Turkish Authors” (3 cilt, Ankara,  2005) – Türkiye Edebiyatçılar ve Kültür Adamları Ansiklopedisi (2006),  Doç. Dr. Plamen Doynov / Şaban M. Kalkan  (Literaturen Forum, Bulgarca, Sofya,  2011), Doç. Dr. Tamilla Alieva Abbashanlı / Beşeri Duygularla Yoğrulan Sone (Gündem gazetesi, Ankara, 2011), Yard. Doç. Dr. Atıf Akgün / “Şaban M. Kalkan: Hayatı, Sanatı ve Eserleri” (Manisa, III. Uluslararası Balkanlarda Türk Varlığı Sempozyumu,10 -12 Mayıs 2012), Kendisinden alınan bilgiler (2014), İhsan Işık / Resimli ve Metin Örnekli Türkiye Edebiyatçılar ve Kültür Adamları Ansiklopedisi (C. 12, 2017).