Poet and writer (b. 1940, Gemerek /
Sivas). He attended the Sivas Dumlupınar Primary School (1952), the Sivas
Secondary School (1955), Sivas Teacher Training School (1958), and graduated
from the Gazi Institute of Education, Department of Literature (1965). As a
teacher, he worked in Gercüş, Sivas and Bedesten villages of Kırıkkale
(1958–62), at the Ministry of National Education and Ankara Radio (1963–65) for
a while. Later, he worked as a teacher of Turkish and literature at secondary schools
and high schools in Zile, Sivas and İstanbul. After his retirement in 1984, he
continued his studies in İstanbul.
His first poem was
published in a local newspaper called Yurt (Sivas) in 1951. Then his
poems and articles were published in the reviews Varlık, Türk Dili, İmece,
Köy ve Eğitim, Kemalizm, Türk Folklor Araştırmaları, Folklor, Sivas Folkloru,
Türk Folkloru, Millî Eğitim, Su, Kıyı, Yaba - Öykü, İlkyaz, Öğretmen Dünyası,
Yazko Somut, Kemalist Ülkü, Birlik, Dil, Bir Yeni Biçem and in the newspapers
Öncü and Vatan. He studied on folklore and edited anthologies. As
he worked at the Ankara Radio, his plays for education and supporting the
villagers were broadcast. He is a member of the PEN Association of Writers and
the Turkish Authors Association.
WORKS:
TRAVEL LITERATURE-IMPRES–SIONS: Günaydın Anadolu (Good Mor–ning Anatolia,
1961).
NOVEL: Yaşamak İçin (To Live,
1964).
POETRY: Yurduma Atatürk'e Şiirler
(Poems to My Country and to Atatürk, 1984), Sevda Gülleri (Roses of
Love, 1984), Halk Çiçekleri (Flowers of the People, 1985), Güneş Atları
(Horses of the Sun, 1994), Sonsuz Yaşamak (Living Eternally, a selection
of his poems, 1994), Gülü Kucaklar Bu Ayna (This Mirror Embraces Rose,
1999), Gülmira (Gülmira, 2003).
CHILDREN’S
LITERATURE: Dallar ve Gökler (The Branches and the Skies, children’s
poems, 1984), Anadolu'dan Masallar (Fairy Tales from Anatolia, 1997), Kuşları
Düşünmek (Thinking of the Birds, children’s poems, 1996), Odamdaki Konuk
(The Guest in My Room, children’s short stories, 2000).
ESSAY: Kemalizm
Üzerine (On Kemalism, 1997), Toprağın Türküsü (The Song of the
Earth, 2002), Köylerimizden Yansımalar (Reflections from Our Villages,
2003).
