Yaşar Bedri Özdemir

Poet and writer (b. 1 January 1956, Akçaköy / Akçaabat / Trabzon). His full name is Yaşar Bedri Özdemir. He attended Cumhuriyet Primary and Elementary Schools and graduated from Trabzon High School and Fatih Faculty of Education, Department of Turkish (1980). His master’s thesis was “Ahmet Muhip Dranas’ın Şiirinde Kadın” (The Woman in Ahmet Muhip Dranas’ Poetry). He worked as a bookbinder, reporter and carpenter in his student years (1974-79). He worked as a teacher for a while (1980); afterwards, for nine years he rode his motorcycle on a therapeutic journey across the whole of Turkey, writing travel journals and taking photos. After a long nomadic life, he settled in Trabzon and founded the Nakkaş Art & Advertisement House. He made his living in this city working as a writer, painter, photographer and in advertising. He is a member of Black Sea Writers Association and the Writers Union of Turkey.

His first poem was published in the newspaper Kelebek in 1975. His articles and poems have been published in newspapers such as Kuzey Haber, Karadeniz, Yeni Şafak, Akit, Posta etc. And in reviews such as Ankara Sanat, Mavi, Milliyet Sanat, Adam Sanat, Yazko Edebiyat, Türk Edebiyatı, Yaba Öykü, Türk Dili, Çağdaş, Türk Dili, Yedi İklim, İslâmî Edebiyat, Edebiyat ve Eleştiri, İkindi Yazıları etc. Beginning in 1978 he held painting exhibitions. He came first in a photography competition in Nazilli in 1976, in a poetry competition that was held in 1984 on the subject of Hasan Tahsin and in a novel competition of the Municipality of Tuzla in 2001.

WORKS:

POETRY: Bağıracağım (I Will Shout, 1976), Azat Ettim Yürek Seni (O Heart, I Set You Free, 1977), İdris (İdris, 1980), Adını Koyamadığım (One to Whom I Can’t Give a Name, 1984), Babil’i Beş Geçe (Past Five Babylon, 1992), Yoksul, Derviş Ve Uzakta (Poor, Dervish and Faraway, 1994), Ölüm Dağlara Oğul Bırakınca (When Death Leaves a Son to the Mountains, 1996), Mut-edil Bir Siyamlı (A Calm Siamese, 1999), O Mahûr O Yorgun Akşam (That Mahur, That Weary Night, 2002).

NARRATIVE: Sızıdır Beyoğlu İbranice Yazılsa da (Beyoğlu Hurts Even Written in Hebrew, 1994).

CITY BOOK: Trabzon 96 (Trabzon 96, 1995).

NOVEL: Cabülka (Cabülka, 2002).

    REFERENCE:  Nüzhet İslimyeli (Ankara Sanat, Nisan 1984), Abdullah Rıza Ergüven (Yazko Edebiyat, Eylül 1985), Rıdvan Can (Yeni Sanat, Mayıs 1985), İsa Kocakaplan (Türk Edebiyatı, Mayıs 1993), H. Husrev Hatemi (Türk Edebiyatı, Temmuz 1993) - Ganita Yazıları (1996), M. Özer Ciravoğlu (Çağdaş Türk Dili, sayı: 29) - Varlık (Kasım 1994), Fikret Hırçın (Vakit, 28.8.1994), Hüseyin Akın (Akit, 7.8.1996), İhsan Deniz (Yeni Şafak, 30.10.1999), Haydar Ergülen (Radikal Kitap, 2.6.2004), İhsan Işık / Türkiye Yazarlar Ansiklopedisi (2001, 2004) – Encyclopedia of Turkish Authors (2005) - Resimli ve Metin Örnekli Türkiye Edebiyatçılar ve Kültür Adamları Ansiklopedisi (2007) – Ünlü Fikir ve Kültür Adamları (Türkiye Ünlüleri Ansiklopedisi, C. 3, 2013) - Encyclopedia of Turkey’s Famous People (2013).