 Born
in Erzincan of Kurdish parents and studied at the School of Political
Sciences in Ankara. Was for a number of years an Inspector of the Inland
Revenue and also served as Director of the Mint. His first book "Uverjinka"
(1959, which won the Seven Hills award) caused quite a stir. Here was
a new voice, complex and complicated but simple and flowing at the same
time. In his next books - "Nomad" (1966, Poetry Prize of the
Turkish Language Academy) and "Kiss Me and Bring Me into the World"
(1973) - he achieved a greater depth of love and understanding, of tenderness
and warm irony. What is best in his work was collected in "Worlds
of Love" (1984) and this will endure. Cemal Sureya was also a critic
and essayist of great acumen and subtlety. ... He died in Istanbul in
a diabetic coma (from
Modern Turkish Poetry, ed. F. K. Fergar). |
