Writer
(b. 1925, Bursa – d. Ö. 18 August 2009, İstanbul). She attended Eskişehir High
School (1942) and graduated from İstanbul University, Faculty of Literature,
Department of Turkish Language and Literature (1945). She worked as a teacher
of literature at a primary school in Halke and then became the editor of the
review and the publishing house Dost, which was established by her
husband Salim Şengil (1957-72).
Her
first work was published in the review İstanbul, under the name N. Ufuk
(15 February 1945) and her first short stories were published in the review Seçilmiş
Hikâyeler (1950-52). The sensitivity for women expressed in her stories
attracted great attention. She collected the Turkish Language Association Novel
Award in 1962 with her novel Korsan Çıkmazı (Pirate Deadlock), the Sait
Faik Short Story Award in 1990 with her short story book Bir Kara Derin Kuyu
(A Deep Dark Well) and the Sedat Simavi Foundation Literature Award in 1998
with her work Yandırma (Setting on Fire). She is regarded as the “first
female writer” of the Republican period.
In
her stories, where she sought for new and different forms of narration, she
successfully depicted young girls and women carrying their inner loneliness,
even in their social lives.
WORKS:
SHORT
STORY: Bozbulanık (Gray-Dim, 1953), Topal Koşma (Lame Horse,
1956), Menekşeli Bilinç (Consciousness with Violets, 1965), Dumanaltı
(Full of Smoke, 1979), Bir Kara Derin Kuyu (A Deep Dark Well, 1989), Boşlukta
Mavi (Blue in the Gap, 1992), Yandırma (Setting on Fire, 1998), Toplu
Öyküleri (Collected Short Stories, Volume 1, Grey-Dim / Lame Horse /
Consciousness with Violets, 1998), Toplu Öyküleri (Collected Short
Stories, Volume 2, Full of Smoke / A Deep Dark Well, 1998).
NOVEL:
Korsan Çıkmazı (Pirate Deadlock, 1961), Alacaceren (Speckled Deer,
2002).
PLAY: Sular Aydınlanıyordu (The Seas were
Illuminated, 1968), Sevdican (Sevdican, staged in Germany, 1984), Çın
Sabahta (Ting! in the Morning, 1995).
CHILDREN’S LITERATURE: Alagün Çocukları (Children
of Days in Twilight, 1976), Küçük Bir Kız Tanıyorum Altı Yaşında (I Know
a Little Girl, She is Six, 1992), Küçük Bir Kız Tanıyorum Yedi Yaşında
(I Know a Little Girl, She is Seven, 1992), Küçük Bir Kız Tanıyorum Sekiz
Yaşında (I Know a Little Girl, She is Eight, 1993), Küçük Bir Kız
Tanıyorum Dokuz Yaşında (I Know a Little Girl, She is Nine, 1994), Küçük
Bir Kız Tanıyorum On Yaşında (I Know a Little Girl, She is Ten, 1995), Küçük
Bir Kız Tanıyorum On Bir Yaşında (I Know a Little Girl, She is Eleven,
1996), Küçük Bir Kız Tanıyorum On İki Yaşında (I Know a Little Girl, She
is Twelve, 1998).
