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Mehmet Atilla Maras
--
Poet and writer (b. 1 July 1949, Urfa). He
attended Cumhuriyet Primary School (1959),
the elementary grade of the Institute of
Arts for Boy's (1963), Urfa High School
(1966), and graduated from Erzurum Atatürk
University, Faculty of Agriculture,
Department of Agricultural Economics (1971).
He taught agriculture at Aksu Teacher
Training College for some time (1972-74).
Later on, he served as a civil engineer at
Adana State Hydraulic Works (1974-77), head
of the branch offices of the Turkish
Agricultural Supply Department in Urfa,
Eskişehir and Balıkesir (1978-96), assistant
manager (1996-98) and member of the
executive committee of the Turkish
Agricultural Supply Department. |
He officially retired and from 1998 to 2000, he worked
as the Chairman of the Writers Union of Turkey. He has
been acknowledged with an honorary doctorate of
literature by the World Academy of Culture and Arts. He
was elected as the Şanlıurfa parliamentary deputy for
the Justice and Development Party at the national
elections held on 3 November 2003.
His first poem Eski Kent (Old City) was published in the
newspaper Şafak (Urfa, 1966). Later, he published his
poems and articles in the reviews Balıklı Göl (Urfa,
1966), Harran (Urfa, 1979), where he was a member of the
editorial board and head of the editorial department and
in Adımlar (Erzurum, 1970-72), Fikir ve Sanatta Hareket
(1970-75), Mavera (1976-80), Edebiyat (1970-75) and
Dergâh (1990), as well as in newspapers such as Yeni
Devir, Zaman, and Yeni Şafak. In 1981, he collected the
Writers Union of Turkey Poetry Award with Şehrayin
(Illuminations) and in 1992 in India, the Madras
Outstanding Poet Award.
The same year he was acknowledged with an honorary
doctorate of literature by the California Academy of Art
and Culture. He participated in the Struga (Yugoslavia)
Poetry Evenings in 1989, in the Kuala Lumpur Poetry
Reading Festival in 1990, the International Turkish
Poetry Festival in Ashgabat (Turkmenistan) and in Almaty
(Kazakhstan) in 1993. His poem Aney (Mom), which was
very popular among young people was set to music,
recorded by famous artists and filmed on video.
WORKS:
POETRY: Doğudan Batıdan Ortadoğudan (From the
East, the West and the Middle East, 1976), Şehrayin
(Illuminations 1981), Aney (Mom, 1983), Zor Sözler
(Difficult Words, 1989), Childhood Dreams (poems
translated into English, 1991), Merhaba Ey Hüzün (Hello
O Grief, 1996), Künyemize Aşk Yazıldı (Love is Written
on Our Identity Discs, 1997).
RESEARCH: Peygamberler Şehri Şanlıurfa (Şanlıurfa,
City of Prophets, 1986).
ESSAY: Beyaz Adamın Kutusu (White Mans Box,
2001).
| The Architect
Oh Sinan
you're the holy architect of eternity
you're the minaret
elegant, deep and faithful
you're the fountain of ablutions
you're the dove
you're the limpid river
you're the coolness of stones
you're the architect
Mehmet Atilla Mara (1949-) |
posted 9 March 2006 |
