Şemsettin Ünlü

Soldier, Writer, Poet

Birth
01 September, 1928
Education
War School, Middle East Technical University Faculty of Administrative Sciences Department of Economical Statistics
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Poet and writer (b. 1 September 1928, Harput / Elazığ). He attended Elazığ Üçüncü Primary School (1940), Elazığ Secondary School (1943), Kuleli Military High School (1946), the War School (1948) and graduated from the Middle East Technical University, Faculty of Administrative Sciences, Department of Economical Statistics (1965). He served in different ranks up to colonel in the Turkish Armed Forces (1948-70). He also worked as a researcher at the Operational Research Unit of the Turkish Scientific and Technical Research Council (1970-72), as vice-president at the Food and Required Material Joint Venture Stock Company (1972-74), vice-president at the Armed Forces Pension Fund (1974-82) and as the president of the Turkish Automotive Industries Corporation from 1983. He also worked as the editor-in-chief of the review Çağdaş Türk Dili.

His first poem with the title “Yalnızlık” (Loneliness) was published in the collection of Yeni Şiirler (New Poems) in the review Varlık im 1951 and his later works appeared in reviews such as Varlık, Ufuklar, Yeni Ufuklar, Türk Dili, Saçak, Oluşum, Çağdaş Türk Dili, Adam Sanat, Kıyı and in the newspaper Cumhuriyet. He collected the Orhan Kemal Award in 1986 with Yukarışehir (Uptown), the Madaralı Novel Award in 1988 with Toprak Kurşun Geçirmez (The Land is Bullet-proofed) and the Essay Award from the Ministry of Culture in 1999 with his book Eksi Beş Kelaynak (Minus Five Hermits). In 2004, the Turkish Authors Association acknowledged him with the Honorary Gold Medal Award for his “Eminent contributions to universal art and Turkish literature”. He is a member of the Writers Syndicate of Turkey, the Language Society, the Turkish Authors Association and the Foundation for Culture in Elazığ.

WORKS:

POETRY: Durur Bakar İbrahim (İbrahim Stopped and Gazed, 1976), Dirlik Düzenlik Türküleri (Songs of Peace and Quiet, 1980).

NOVEL: Yukarışehir (Uptown, 1986), Toprak Kurşun Geçirmez (The Land is Bullet-proofed 1988), Yüz Uzun Yıl (A Hundred Long Years, 1993), İsmet Paşa’nın Ağır Topları (The Heavy Artillery of İsmet Paşa, 2003).

FAIRY-TALE: Büyülü Değirmen (Haunted Mill, 1998).

ESSAY: Eksi Beş Kelaynak (Minus Five Hermits, 2000), Romanların Dünyası (The World of Novels, 2004).

In addition he translated novels and travel notes which were serialized in the newspaper Afyon in 1961 and Dünya in 1979, but they have not been compiled and published in book form.

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