Writer (b. 19 April 1929, Nicosia / Cyprus - d. 2007, Ankara). He is the brother of Vüs'at O. Bener. The writer Cemil Sena is his uncle. He attended primary and secondary schools in different cities of Anatolia as his father was a teacher. After attending the Kayseri High School, he graduated from Ankara University, Faculty of Political Sciences, Department of Finance (1950), and then from Faculty of Law at the same university (1956). He got married with the sister of journalist-writer Fikret Otyam in 1957. He went to Brussels in 1958 for advanced training for a year. On his return, he was appointed to the vice-directorate general of the Treasure. He worked as a financial vice-inspector and as an expert of accounts at the Ministry of Finance. In 1963, he was appointed as a financial counselor to the Turkish Embassy in Paris. He served as a financial counselor at the OECD, the international financial organization. On his return in Turkey, he was appointed to the general directorate for foreign exchange at the General Secretariate of the Treasure at the Ministry of Finance. Later, he became the vice-chairman of the Turkish delegation to OECD, where he worked until 1973. On his return, he became the general director of the Retirement Fund. He has been to many countries from the United States to India, from Denmark to Israel due to his duties. He was retired in 1975 on his own request and worked in Ankara as a lawyer by 1993. Then, he focused totally on literature. He is a member of the Turkish Authors Association, the Writers Syndicate of Turkey and the Language Society.
He embarked on literature
with poetry. His first works were published in the reviews Yedigün, Seçilmiş
Hikâyeler (1945-51), and in reviews and newspapers such as Varlık, Dost
and Vatan after 1952. He edited the review Özgür İnsan
(Free Man, 1976). In his first book, where he collected his poems in aruz
meter, he was trying to give a free form to aruz meter. He collected the
Turko-French Cultural Society Award in 1961 with his novel Kedi ve Ölüm /
Ara Kapı (The Cat and Death / The Mid Gate). He also received the Muhsin
Ertuğrul Award with his play Hızır Doktor (The Quick Doctor) in 1979;
the Yunus Nadi Short Story Award with his book Aşk-ı Muhabbet, Sevda (Love
of Conversation, Love) in 1992; and the Haldun Taner Short Story Award in 1993
with the book Alabalık (Salmon Trout). Besides, he received the Yunus
Nadi Novel Award in 1996 with his novel Hınzır Kız (The Bratty Girl) and
the Ömer Asım Aksoy Award of the Language Society in the same year with Günbatımı
Öyküleri (The Tales of Sunset). His novels Böcek (The Insect),
Sisli Yaz (The Foggy Summer), Ölü Bir Deniz (A Dead Sea) and
Yalnızlar (The Lonely Ones) were adapted to cinema. Böcek (The
Insect) was awarded with the Golden Orange Award in 1997 and with a medal of
d'Officier des Arts et Lettres by the French government in 2000.
WORKS:
NOVEL: Acemiler (The Tyros, 1952), Yalnızlar (The Lonely
Ones, 1954), Gordium (Gordium, 1956), Loş Ayna (The Dark Mirror,
1960), Ara Kapı (The Mid Gate, 1962, with the title Kedi ve Ölüm
- The Cat and Death, 1965), Baharla Gelen (Coming with the Spring,
1969), Elif'in Öyküsü (The Story of Elif, 1980), Oyuncu (The
Actor, 1981), Ünlü Gezgin Macellos da Vinci'nin Akıl Almaz Serüvenleri
(Unbelievable Adventures of the Famous Traveler Macellos da Vinci, 1981),
Böcek (The Insect, 1982), Ölü Bir Deniz (A Dead Sea, 1983), Sisli
Yaz (The Foggy Summer, 1984), Ortadirekler (The Middle Classes,
1987), Tekilleşme (Singularization, 1990), Bir Büyük Bürokratın
Romanı (Novel of A Great Bureaucrat, 1991), Anafor (Countercurrent,
1993), Hınzır Kız (The Bratty Girl, 1995), Köleler ve Tutkular
(The Slaves and the Ambitions, 1999), Işığın Gölgesi (Shadow of the
Light, 2000), İlişkiler (Relations,
2002).
SHORT STORY: Aşk-ı
Muhabbet Sevda (Love of Conversation, Love, 1992), Gece Gelen Ölüm
(The Death Coming at Night, 1994), Günbatımı Öyküleri (The Tales of
Sunset, 1995), Denizaşırı Öyküler (Overseas Stories, 1996), Yaralı
Aşklar (Injured Loves, 1998), Aşk Nereye Kadar (Love Up To Where?,
2003).
PLAY: Çıldırtan Yağmur
(The Rain Driving us Crazy, 1980), Bürokratlar (The Bureaucrats, 1981), Hızır
Doktor (The Quick Doctor, 1981), Şahmeran (The Chief of Snakes, folk
tale written in the form of play, 1984; as a children's novel, 1991).
POETRY: Sesler (Sounds,
1948).
MEMOIR: Bürokratlar (The Bureaucrats, 3 volumes, 1978-79,
published as a play 1981), Arabalarım (My Cars, 2003).
CHILDREN'S LITERATURE: Şahmeran
Öyküsü (The Tale of the Chief of Snakes, 1991), Burcu Öğretmenin
Öyküleri (Stories of the Teacher Burcu, 1993).
