Poet and writer (b.
15 December 1951, Bucak / Burdur). He has also used the pen name Oktay Oğuzhan.
He attended Bucak Cumhuriyet Primary School and graduated from Bucak High
School (1970), Ankara University, Faculty of Language, History and Geography
(1974). After finishing his military service, he worked as a teacher for a
year. Because of his special interest, he was appointed to the Ministry of
National Education, Radio and Television Education Center. He became the Head
of the Radio Department. He worked as the head of various departments at the
ministry and in 1985 he was appointed head of department at the Ministry’s
Central Organization. In 1986, he worked as a specialist at Turkish Radio and
Television Corporation as Head of the Radio Department. He still works there as
a supervisor. He has worked on copyright issues as the member and assistant
manager of the Professional Association of Scientific and Literary Work Owners
of Turkey since 1996.
He published his
works starting from 1972 in the reviews Ülkü,
Bozkurt (head of the editorial department), Devlet, Karınca, Türk Yurdu
and Karınca Kardeş (head of the publishing department). Oktay who started
working as a program information specialist at the Turkish Radio and Television
Corporation’s Radio Department, organized many special programs for Ankara
Radio such as Yaşayan Menkıbeler (Living Anecdotes), Dönemleriyle
Türk Edebiyatı (Turkish Literature Through Time) and Günaydın (Good
Morning). With the TV series Bizim Aile (Our Family) which was shown in
four parts by the Turkish Radio and Television Corporation, he received the
1987 Award for the Best Radio Programmer from the Writers Union of Turkey and
with Dönemleriyle Türk Edebiyatı (Turkish Literature Through Time) he
received the 1988 Award for Serving National Culture from the National Culture
Association of Turkey. Within the criteria of the Turkish Language Awards
organized by the Governor of Karaman and the Turkish Language Association, he
was shown to be among “those who use Turkish best and the most correctly as to
be examples to Turkish Society” and he received the 2004 Turkish Language Award
for Children’s Literature.
He worked on the
project “Family and Children’s Education” organized by the Ministry of State
responsible for the family. The scripts he wrote were recorded and published as
cassettes. Productions of his scripts, Çocuk
Kalbi (Children’s Hearts), İslâm
Kahramanları (Heroes of Islam) and Kâbe
Yolları (Ways of the Kaaba) were made by the Turkish Foundation for
Religious Affairs. He prepared for publishing the children’s review Karınca Kardeş, which was published by
the Turkish Cooperative Association.
WORKS:
PLAY: Şehir Hastalığı (City Illness, two acts,
1987).
NOVEL: Gönül Dostları (Friends of the Heart,
1995) Bizim Aile (Our Family, 1996), Kendini Unutan Adam (The Man Who Forgot
Himself, life story of Galip Erdem, 2004).
SHORT
STORY: A Brief History of the Turks, 1988. (Turkish version Benim Tarihim - My History, 1995), Peygamber Dostları (Friends of the
Prophet, 1992).
CHILDREN’S
LITERATURE: Bilge Kağan I-II (The
Emperor Bilge I-II, cartoon, 1990), Peygamber
Dostları (Friends of the Prophet, 1992), Peygamberlere Niçin İnanıyoruz (Why Do We Believe in the Prophets,
5 books, 1992), Göç Destanı (Epic of
Migration, cartoon, 1990), Manas Destanı
I-II (Epic of Manas I-II, cartoon, 1990), Resimli Çocuk Klasikleri Dizisi
(Illustrated Children’s Classics, 1996).
POETRY: Hasret ve Vuslat (Longing and Meeting,
2001), Gönüllere Gül Düştü (A Rose
Dropped into the Hearts).