Melih Cevdet Anday facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Melih Cevdet Anday
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Melih Cevdet Anday
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| Born | 13 March 1915 Istanbul, Turkey |
| Died | 28 November 2002 (aged 87) Istanbul, Turkey |
Melih Cevdet Anday (born March 13, 1915 – died November 28, 2002) was a very important Turkish writer. His poems were unique and didn't follow common writing styles of his time. Over 65 years, he wrote many different types of books. These included eleven poetry collections, eight plays, eight novels, and fifteen essay collections. He won many big awards for his writing. He also translated several books from other languages into Turkish.
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About Melih Cevdet Anday
Melih Cevdet Anday was born in Istanbul, Turkey, in 1915. He lived there until 1931, when his family moved to Ankara. He finished high school at Gazi High School. For a short time, he studied sociology in Belgium. He had a scholarship from the State Railways. But he had to come back home in 1940 because of the German invasion.
From 1942 to 1951, he worked for the Ministry of Education in Ankara. He helped with publications and later became a city librarian. During this time, he also started working as a journalist for different newspapers. After 1954, he taught at the Istanbul Municipal Conservatory. From 1964 to 1969, Anday was on the board of directors for Turkish Radio Television. He retired from the Conservatory in 1977. Then, he worked as a cultural expert at the UNESCO office in Paris. He stayed there until a change in government called him back home.
Melih Cevdet Anday's Writing Journey
As a poet, Anday was a leader of the Garip movement. This group also included famous poets like Orhan Veli and Oktay Rifat. In 1941, they published a book together. They believed poetry should be simple and easy to understand. They wanted it to sound like everyday talk. Their goal was to make art for everyone.
Anday's style changed over time. He started using a more thoughtful and complex style. This was seen in his long poem "Ulysses Bound" (Kolları Bağlı Odysseus) from 1963. He also wrote other long poems like "On the Nomad Sea" (Göçebe Denizin Üstünde, 1970). He wrote many short, simple poems too. One was called "Sun" and another "Seagull." These poems showed his deep thinking.
Anday received many awards for his different works. His play Mikado’nun Çöpleri (The Mikado Game) won several honors. These included the Most Successful Playwright award in 1967–1968. Another play, Ölümsüzler ya da Bir Cinayetin Söylencesi (The Immortals or the Legend of a Murder), won the Enka Art Prize in 1980. His poetry book Teknenin Ölümü (Death of the Boat) won the Sedat Simavi Foundation Literature Prize in 1978. His book Ölümsüzlük Ardında Gılgamış (Gilgamesh Beyond Death) won the Türkiye İş Bankası Prize in 1981.
In 1971, UNESCO honored him as one of Europe's top authors. He also received the TÜYAP Honour Prize in 1991. In 2000, he won the Aydın Doğan Foundation’s Literature Award.
In 1994, a sculptor named Metin Yurdanur made a bronze statue of him. This statue is now in a park named after him in Ören. Later, in 1998, Yurdanur made another sculpture of him for the Şairler Sofası Park.
His Works Around the World
Melih Cevdet Anday's books have been translated into many languages. These include Russian, German, Hungarian, Romanian, French, and English. His novel Aylaklar was translated into Bulgarian in 1966. Some of his poems were translated into French, like Ulysse Bras Attachés et autres poèmes (1970) and Offrandes (1998).
In the United States, some of his poetry collections were translated. These include On The Nomad Sea (1974), Rain One Step Away (1980), and Silent Stones: Selected Poems of Melih Cevdet Anday (2017). The book Silent Stones won the Meral Divitçi Prize in 2015. It was translated by poets Sidney Wade and Efe Murad.
See also
- Garip Movement
- List of contemporary Turkish poets
