Yaşar Kemal facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Yaşar Kemal
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Yaşar Kemal's statue in
Yılmazbüyükerşen wax museum |
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| Born | Kemal Sadık Gökçeli 6 October 1923 Gökçedam, Osmaniye, Turkey |
| Died | 28 February 2015 (aged 91) Istanbul, Turkey |
| Occupation | Novelist |
| Period | 1943–2002 |
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| Notable awards |
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Yaşar Kemal (born Kemal Sadık Gökçeli; 6 October 1923 – 28 February 2015) was a famous Turkish writer. He was also a strong supporter of human rights. He is known as one of Turkey's most important writers.
Yaşar Kemal won 38 awards during his life. He was even considered for the Nobel Prize in Literature. His most famous book is Memed, My Hawk.
He was an intellectual who wasn't afraid to speak his mind. He often talked about difficult topics. This included issues like the challenges faced by the Kurdish people. He sometimes faced legal trouble for his writings. For example, he wrote an article for Der Spiegel in 1995. This article talked about problems in Kurdish villages. He was later released. He also received a suspended jail sentence for another article. This article criticized unfair treatment in Turkey, especially against Kurds.
Kemal played a big role in Turkish literature. This was especially true after language changes in the 1930s. These changes had caused Turkish to be used less in literature.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Yaşar Kemal was born Kemal Sadık Gökçeli on 6 October 1923. His parents were Sadık and Nigâr. He was born in Hemite (now Gökçedam) in southern Turkey. This village is in the Osmaniye area. His family was the only Kurdish family in the village. However, he said he did not face unfair treatment because of this.
Kemal had a tough childhood. His family had to move several times. He lost his right eye in an accident when he was young. This happened while his father was preparing a sheep. These difficult experiences affected him. He had trouble speaking until he was twelve years old.
He started school at age nine in a nearby village. He continued his education in Kadirli. Even before school, Kemal was known locally as a bard. A bard is someone who tells stories or sings poems. He became interested in writing things down. This happened after he met a traveling seller.
Later, he worked in cotton fields. He also worked as a letter-writer. Then he became a journalist. Finally, he became a novelist. In 1950, Kemal was put in jail. This was because of his political ideas. In 1951, he visited Akdamar Island. He saw that a church there was going to be torn down. He used his connections to help stop this. The church was later restored by the Turkish government in 2005.
Career and Activism
After his time in jail, he moved to Istanbul. He started working for the Cumhuriyet newspaper. This is where he began using his pen name, Yaşar Kemal.
In 1962, Kemal joined the Workers Party of Turkey. He was one of its leaders for a while. In 1967, he helped start a magazine called Ant. This magazine published articles about important thinkers. It was closed down after a military takeover in 1971. This was part of a crackdown on left-wing politicians.
Because of violence in Turkey from 1976 to 1980, Kemal moved to Sweden for some time. He was often arrested for his activism. In 1995, he faced legal action. This was for an article he wrote supporting Kurdish people. He received a suspended sentence in 1996. In 2000, he helped with talks about hunger strikes. These strikes were against new prison types.
Later Years and Death
On 14 January 2015, Yaşar Kemal was hospitalized. He had trouble breathing. He passed away on 28 February 2015. He was in the intensive care unit.
His funeral was held at Teşvikiye Mosque. Many people attended, including former Turkish president Abdullah Gül. He was buried on 2 March 2015. His grave is next to his first wife, Thilda, in Zincirlikuyu Cemetery. He is survived by his second wife, Ayşe Semiha Baban. He is also survived by his adopted son, Ahmet Güneştekin.
His Works
I don't write about issues, I don't write for an audience, I don't even write for myself. I just write.
In 1943, Kemal published his first book, Ağıtlar ("Ballads"). This book was a collection of old folk songs and poems. He had started collecting these when he was sixteen. He wrote his first story, Pis Hikaye ("The Dirty Story"), in 1944. This was while he was serving in the military.
His stories Bebek ("The Baby") and Dükkancı ("The Shopkeeper") were published in 1950. He also published a book of short stories called Sarı Sıcak ("Yellow Heat") in 1952. His early books often focused on the lives of people in the Çukurova plain. He wrote about their struggles and hard work. Kemal used many legends and stories from Anatolia in his books.
In 1955, he became famous around the world. This was with his book Memed, My Hawk (Turkish: İnce Memed). In this book, Kemal criticized society. The main character runs away to the mountains. This is because of unfair treatment from powerful landowners. Yaşar Kemal was known for his amazing use of language. He also wrote beautiful descriptions of Turkish village life. He won nineteen literary awards. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1973.
His 1955 novel Teneke was made into a play. This play ran for almost a year in Gothenburg, Sweden. He lived in Sweden for about two years in the late 1970s. An Italian composer, Fabio Vacchi, turned the same novel into an opera. It premiered in Milan, Italy, in 2007.
Personal Life
In 1952, Yaşar Kemal married Thilda Serrero. She came from a well-known Jewish family in Istanbul. Her grandfather was a chief doctor for the Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid II. Thilda translated seventeen of her husband’s books into English.
Thilda passed away in 2001 at age 78. She died from lung problems in an Istanbul hospital. She was buried in Zincirlikuyu Cemetery. Thilda was survived by her son and a grandchild.
Yaşar Kemal married again on 1 August 2002. His second wife was Ayşe Semiha Baban. She was a lecturer at Istanbul Bilgi University. She had studied at several universities, including Harvard University.
Awards and Honors
Literature Prizes
- "Seven Days in the World's Largest Farm" reportage series, Journalist's Association Prize, 1955
- Varlik Prize for Ince Memed ("Memed, My Hawk"), 1956
- Ilhan Iskender Award for the play adapted from his book Teneke ("The Drumming-Out"), 1966
- The International Nancy Theatre Festival – First Prize for Uzun Dere ("Long Brook"), 1966
- Madarli Novel Award for Demirciler Çarşısı ("Murder in the Ironsmith's Market"), 1974
- Choix du Syndicat des Critiques Littéraires pour le meilleur roman etranger (Eté/Automne 1977) pour Terre de Fer, Ciel de Cuivre ("Yer Demir, Gök Bakır")
- Prix du Meilleur Livre Etranger 1978 for L'Herbe qui ne meurt pas (Ölmez Otu); Paris, January 1979
- Prix mondial Cino Del Duca for contributions to modern humanism; Paris, October 1982
- The Sedat Simavi Foundation Award for Literature; Istanbul, Turkey, 1985
- Premi Internacional Catalunya. Catalonia (Spain), 1996
- Lillian Hellman/Dashiell Hammett Award for Courage in Response to Repression, Human Rights Watch, USA, 1996
- Stig Dagerman Prize, Sweden, 1997
- Friedenspreis des Deutschen Buchhandels, Frankfurt, Germany, 1997
- International Nonino Prize for his collected works, Italy, 1997
- Bordeaux, Prix Ecureuit de Littérature Etrangère, 1998
- Z. Homer Poetry Award, 2003
- Savanos Prize (Thessaloniki-Greece), 2003
- Turkish Publishers' Association Lifetime Achievement Award, 2003
- Presidential Cultural and Artistic Grand Prize, 2008
- The Bjørnson Prize, Norway, 2013
Decorations
- Commandeur de la Légion d'Honneur de France; Paris, 1984
- Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres, Paris, 1989
- Grand Officier de la Légion d'Honneur de France; Paris, 2011
- Krikor Naregatsi Medal of Armenia, 2013
Honorary Doctorates
- Doctor Honoris Causa, Strasbourg University, France, 1991
- Doctor Honoris Causa, Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkey, 1992
- Honorary Doctorate, Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey, 2002
- Honorary Doctorate, Çukurova University, Adana, Turkey, 2009
- Honorary Doctorate, Boğaziçi University, Istanbul, Turkey, 2009
- Honorary Doctorate, Istanbul Bilgi University, Istanbul, Turkey, 2014
See also
In Spanish: Yaşar Kemal para niños
