Kemal Kurt facts for kids

Kemal Kurt (born October 29, 1947, in Çorlu, Turkey – died October 21, 2002, in Berlin, Germany) was a talented author, translator, and photographer. He wrote many stories, especially for children, and helped bring books from one language to another.

Kemal Kurt's Life Story

Kemal Kurt studied in Turkey and the United States from 1966 to 1972. He moved to Berlin in 1975 and lived there for the rest of his life. In 1977, he started taking artistic photos. His first books were published in 1981. He earned his PhD from the TU Berlin in 1983.

From 1990, Kemal Kurt worked as a full-time writer. He traveled a lot, giving readings of his work in Germany, Poland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Austria, Turkey, Switzerland, South Africa, and the USA.

What Kemal Kurt Wrote

Kemal Kurt wrote many different kinds of stories. He created short stories, novels, poems, and essays. He also wrote special articles and scripts for radio plays and TV shows for children. Besides writing, he also published his photography.

His main focus was writing and telling stories for kids. He was especially known for his work on the "Ohrenbär" series. This was a popular radio show for children on the ARD-channels, produced by SFB.

For grown-ups, he wrote poems, essays, and funny novels. One famous book was Was ist die Mehrzahl von Heimat? (1995). In this book, he thought deeply about his feelings for his Turkish background and his life in Germany. Another book, Ja, sagt Molly (1998), was a funny story about literature. Many of Kemal Kurt's books are even studied in universities in America.

Kemal Kurt also left behind a huge collection of his photos, with about 20,000 images. He had planned a traveling exhibition of his photos and poems called menschen.orte. Thanks to the people who manage his work, this exhibition is still shown today.

Awards and Special Opportunities

Kemal Kurt received several awards and special invitations during his career. These "fellowships" allowed him to work in interesting places.

• In 1999, he had a fellowship at the Villa Aurora in Pacific Palisades, California. This was once the home of a famous writer named Lion Feuchtwanger.
• In 2000, he went to the Hawthornden Castle in Edinburgh and "Waves of Three Seas" in Rhodes. These were special places for writers.
• In 2001, he had a fellowship at the Centrum for Arts & Creative Education in Port Townsend, Washington.

He also received grants for his children's books from the Stiftung Preußische Seehandlung Berlin in 1991 and 2000. His book "Wenn der Meddah kommt" was named one of the top three German children's books in 1996. His picture book "The five Fingers and the Moon" was chosen as the Best Picture Book of December 1997 by the German Academy for Children's Books.

Kemal Kurt's Published Works

Books by Kemal Kurt

Poetry, Photos, and Prose

• Der Chinese von Schöneberg. stories. Berlin 2000.
• menschen.orte. poetry & photos.
• Ja, sagt Molly. novel. Berlin 1998.
• Was ist die Mehrzahl von Heimat?. essay. Reinbek 1995.
• Beim nächsten Ton. poetry. Berlin 1988.
• Abuzer Güler. poems. Berlin 1988.
• Scheingedichte / Şiirimsi. poems, German / Turkey. Berlin 1988.
• Bilder einer Kindheit. novel and photos. Berlin 1986.
• ...weil wir Türken sind /...Türk olduğumuz için. photos and stories; German / Turkey. Berlin 1981.

Children's Books

• Die Sonnentrinker. Berlin 2002.
• Die verpatzten Zaubersprüche. Gossau-Zürich 2002.

  English (Marianne Martens): Mixed-up Journey to Magic Mountain

  Italian (Andrea Passannante): Il mago pasticcione

  French (Michelle Nikly): Demi-tour de magie

  Dutch (Christine Kliphuis): De muslukte toverspreuk

• Yunus. Big Book for the knees. Berlin-München 2001.

  Danish: Det er mig

  Luxembourgish: Dat sinn ech

  Dutch: Dit ben ik

• Eine echt verrückte Nacht. Berlin 2001.

  Korean:

• Als das Kamel Bademeister war. Turkey Tales. Berlin 1998.
• Cora die Korsarin. Hamburg 1998.
• Die Kinder vom Mondhügel. Hamburg 1997.
• Die fünf Finger und der Mond. picture book. Gossau-Zürich 1997.

  English (Anthea Bell): The Five Fingers and the Moon

  French (Géraldine Elscher): La lune et les cinq doigts

  Greek:

  Dutch (Toby Visser) Vijf vingermannetjes op de maan

• Sieben Zimmer voller Wunder. Hamburg 1996.

  Dutch (Yvonne Kloosterman): Zeven kamers vol wonderen

• Wenn der Meddah kommt. Turkey tales for children. Hamburg 1995, and Stuttgart 1997.

Translations from German to Turkish

Kemal Kurt also translated many books from German into Turkish, helping German stories reach Turkish readers.

• Hans de Beer: Kleiner Eisbär wohin fährst du? translated to Küçük beyaz ayı nereye gidiyorsun?, picture book, Gossau-Zürich 1994.
• Hans de Beer: Kleiner Eisbär, hilf mir fliegen! translated to Küçük Beyaz Ayı, Yardım Et Uçayım!, picture book, Gossau-Zürich 1999.
• Hans de Beer: Kleiner Eisbär, kennst du den Weg? translated to Küçük Beyaz Ayı Yolu Biliyor Musun?, picture book, Gossau-Zürich 2001.
• Marcus Pfister: Der Regenbogenfisch translated to Gökkuşağı Balığı - picture books, Gossau-Zürich 1994.
• Marcus Pfister: Der Regenbogenfisch schließt Frieden translated to Gökkuşğı Balığı Barışıyor - picture books, Gossau-Zürich 1998.
• Marcus Pfister: Der Regenbogenfisch überwindet seine Angst translated to Gökkusağı Balığı Korkusunu Yeniyor - picture books, Gossau-Zürich 2000.
• Marcus Pfister: Regenbogenfisch, komm hilf mir! translated to Gökkusağı Balığı, Bana Yardım Et! - picture books, Gossau-Zürich 2000.
• Bahman Nirumand, Belge Yayınları: Iran - hinter den Gittern verdorren Blumen, Rowohlt, Reinbek 1985 translated to İran – Soluyor Çiçekler Parmaklıklar Ardında, Istanbul 1988.

Translations from Turkish to German

He also translated books from Turkish into German.

• Gülten Dayıoğlu: Sık Dişini translated to Beiß die Zähne zusammen, together with V. Augustin and E. Giere, Berlin 1981.

TV Screenplays

Kemal Kurt wrote scripts for the ZDF-series: Karfunkel – Stories with children of the whole world.

• Auf den Spuren von Lakatosch. (Director: Alejandro Quintano) 1994.
• Can und Oleg. (Director: Yasemin Akay) 1994.
• Heimliche Weihnacht. (Director: Yasemin Akay), 1992.
• Öffnen Sie den Koffer, Herr Özyurt!. (Director: Thomas Dräger), 1991.

Broadcasting Stories for Children

Kemal Kurt wrote many stories for radio shows, especially for children.

• Als das Kamel Bademeister war. Domino, HR, 2000.
• Hakan und der kleine Bär. Ohrenbär, SFB 1998.
• Cora die Korsarin. Ohrenbär, SFB 1997.
• Die traumhaften Reisen von Paula Pumpernickel und Emily Erdbeer. Ohrenbär, SFB 1996.
• Das Mädchen, das Rätsel liebte. Panther und Co, DeutschlandRadio 1995.
• Reise zum Zauberberg. Lilipuz, WDR 1995.
• Mehr vom Mondhügel. Ohrenbär, SFB 1995.
• Ein Stadtbummel durch Istanbul. Panther und Co, DeutschlandRadio 1995.
• Keloglans Streiche. Ohrenbär, SFB 1993.
• Als das Kamel Ausrufer und der Floh Barbier war. Ohrenbär, SFB 1992.
• Fingergeschichten. Ohrenbär, SFB 1991.
• Eine Reise von A wie Aitmatow bis Z wie Zuckmayer. Passagen, SFB 1991.
• Zurück in Aytepe. Passagen, SFB 1990.
• Ein Haus mit sieben Zimmern. Ohrenbär, SFB 1990.
• Vom Mondhügel. Ohrenbär, SFB 1989.

Other Works

• Ulrich Karger (Editor): Briefe von Kemal Kurt (1947−2002) − mit Kommentaren, Nachrufen und Rezensionen. Paperback 2013.

• Works by and about Kemal Kurt in the German National Library catalogue