Buket Uzuner

Buket Uzuner (born 3 October 1955, Ankara, Turkey) is a Turkish writer, author of novels, short stories and travelogues. Travel Literature She studied biology and environmental science and has conducted research and presented lectures at universities in Turkey, Norway, the United States, and Finland. Her fiction has been translated into eight languages, including Spanish, English, Italian, Greek, Romanian, Hebrew, Korean, and Bulgarian.

Buket Uzuner travels as "solo woman backpacker" since 1980s including "inter-rail" tours in Europe and in three other continents while keep writing her travel memoirs. Her first travelogue The Travel Notes of A Brunette was published in 1988 and sold more than 300.000 copies. Uzuner wrote two more travel books as Travel Notes of An Urban Romantic which questions the meaning of exoticism and New York Logbook which are all collected lately in Travel Library of Buket Uzuner

In 2013 her novel İstanbullular is published in USA by Dalkey Archive Press with the title of I Am Istanbul translated into English by Kenneth J. Dakan She is also celebrating in 2013 the 22nd year's anniversary of her first novel İki Yeşil Susamuru, Anneleri, Babaları, Sevgilileri ve Diğerleri (Two Green Otters, Mothers, Fathers, Lovers and All the Others) translated by Alex Dawe with its 50th edition which sold over 1 million copies in Turkey and already a contemporary classic.

Uzuner's books have been on the Turkish best-seller lists since 1992. They are taught in a number of Turkish universities and high schools.^[1][2]

In 1993, Buket Uzuner was awarded Turkey's Yunus Nadi prize for the novel The Sound of Fishsteps, and in 1998 Mediterranean Waltz was named novel of the year by the University of Istanbul. She was made an honorary member of the International Writing Program, IWP of University of Iowa in 1996. She was also honored with a certificate of appreciation from the Senate of Middle East Technical University; METU in 2004.

She has referred to Turkish poet and novelist Attilâ İlhan, and Cervantes, Dostoyevski, Doris Lessing, Turkish woman writer Sevgi Soysal as major influences on her work.^[3]

English language bibliography

Five of Uzuner's novels and one short story collection have been published in English language translation.

Mediterranean Waltz

Mediterranean Waltz (Turkish title: Kumral Ada - Mavı Tuna) is a 1997 novel by Turkish writer Buket Uzuner, which was awarded the 1998 Novel Prize of Istanbul University and was republished in 2000 by Remzi Kitabevi in English language translation by Pelin Ariner.^[4]

Editions

• Mediterranean Waltz. trans. Pelin Ariner. Istanbul: Remzi Kitabevi. 2000. ISBN 975-289-073-3. 

A Cup of Turkish Coffee

A 2001 short story collection by Turkish writer Buket Uzuner published by Milet Books, in dual Turkish and English language translation by Pelin Ariner, as part of its series of Turkish-English Short Story Collections.

The publisher states that the author, "takes us into the memories and dreams of children and adults, and explores shared history, love and attachments – to family, lovers and places." Whilst a review in Writing in Education concludes that the author, "in The Other Twin notably, is subtle, penetrating about human nature, and well able to project a powerful maxim or a sarcastic image."^[5]

Editions

• A Cup of Turkish Coffee. trans. Pelin Ariner. London: Milet Books. 2001. ISBN 978-1-84059-300-6. 

The Sound of Fishsteps

The Sound of Fishsteps (Turkish title: Balık İzlerinin Sesi) is a 1993 novel by Turkish writer Buket Uzuner, which was awarded the 1993 Yunus Nadi Novel Prize and was republished in 2002 by Remzi Kitabevi in English language translation by Pelin Ariner.^[6]

Editions

• The Sound of Fishsteps. trans. Pelin Ariner. Istanbul: Remzi Kitabevi. 2002. ISBN 975-14-0843-1. 

The Long White Cloud - Galipoli

The Long White Cloud - Galipoli (Turkish title: Uzun Beyaz Bulut - Gelibolu) is a 2001 novel by Turkish writer Buket Uzuner, which was a national bestseller and was republished in 2002 by Remzi Kitabevi in English language translation by Pelin Ariner.^[7]

Editions

• The Long White Cloud - Galipoli. trans. Pelin Ariner. Istanbul: Remzi Kitabevi. 2002. ISBN 975-289-173-X. 

Istanbullu

Istanbullu is a 2007 novel by Turkish writer Buket Uzuner, which was republished in 2008 by Everest Yayınlari in English language translation by Kenneth Dakan.^[8]

Editions

• Istanbullu. trans. Kenneth Dakan. Istanbul: Everest Yayinlari. 2008. ISBN 9752895336. 

On-line translations

• An Unbearable Passion of a Young Man at buketuzuner.com.
• The Sun Eating Gypsy at buketuzuner.com.
• The Hall at buketuzuner.com.
• The Mysterious Passenger at the Spanish Border at buketuzuner.com.
• My Soul-mate Istanbul, Ex-Husband Paris and Lover New York (Extract from New York Log Book) at buketuzuner.com.
• The Princess with a Gypsy Heart (Extract from New York Log Book) at buketuzuner.com.

Bibliography

Novels

• Two Green Otters, Their Mothers, Their Fathers, Their Lovers, and the Others — 1991
• The Sound of Fishsteps — 1993
• Mediterranean Waltz — 1997
• Long White Cloud-Gallipoli — 2001
• Istanbullites — 2007

Short story collections

• My name is May — 1986
• The Most Naked Day of the Month — 1988
• The Sun Eating Gypsy — 1989
• The Sorrow of the Northwest Wind — 1993
• The City of Poets — 1994
• Tale, The Sister of Verse — 2003
• Istanbul Blues — 2004
• Yolda on the road — 2009

Travel writing

• The Travel Notes of a Brunette — 1989
• The Diary of an Urban Romantic — 1998
• New York Logbook — 2000

Biography

• Silver Summer, Silver Girl — 2000

Essay

• Travels with Selin and Cem — 2003

Interviews

• Turkey and the Iraqi war, an interview with Pia Ingström, 5 May 2003^[9]

References

External links

• Personal website in English
• Profile and bibliography on the Turkish Culture Portal
• Interview on SkyLife, April 2009