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Buket Uzuner (born 3 October 1955, inAnkara, Turkey) is aTurkish writer, author of novels, short stories, andtravelogues. She studiedbiology andenvironmental science and has conducted research and presented lectures at universities inTurkey, Norway, the United States, andFinland. Her works have been translated into eight languages:Spanish,English,Italian,Greek,Romanian,Hebrew,Korean, andBulgarian.
Since the 1980s, Buket Uzuner has travelled as a "solo woman backpacker" including "inter-rail" tours inEurope and three other continents where she keeps writing her travel memoirs. Her first travelogue,The Travel Notes of A Brunette, (1988) sold more than 300,000 copies. Uzuner then wrote two more travel books:Travel Notes of An Urban Romantic, which questions the meaning ofexoticism, andNew York Logbook, which are all collected lately inthe Travel Library of Buket Uzuner.
Her first novel, "İki Yeşil Susamuru, Anneleri, Babaları, Sevgilileri ve Diğerleri" (Two Green Otters, Mothers, Fathers, Lovers and All the Others; 1991) reached its 50th edition in 2013 and has sold over one million copies.
Uzuner's books have been on the Turkish best-seller lists since 1992. They are taught in several Turkish Universities and High Schools.[1][2]
Her novel “The Sound of Fishsteps” (1993), was awarded Turkey's Yunus Nadi Prize, while her novel ”Mediterranean Waltz” (1998) was named novel of the year by theUniversity of Istanbul. She was made an honorary member of theInternational Writing Program of theUniversity of Iowa in 1996. She was also honoured with a certificate of appreciation from the Senate ofMiddle East Technical University in 2004.[3][4]
She has referred to Turkish WritersAttilâ İlhan andSevgi Soysal, as well asMiguel de Cervantes,Fyodor Dostoevsky, andDoris Lessing, as major influences on her work.[5]
In September 2020, Uzuner sued the producer of Netflix TV SeriesAtiye (The Gift) claiming that the characters were copied from her novelToprak in theAdventures of Defne Kaman series without her permission. She requested an injunction as well as a total of $6,600 compensation from the producer's company and Netflix.[6]
Five of Uzuner's novels and one short story collection have been published in English language translation.
Mediterranean Waltz (Turkish title: "Kumral Ada – Mavı Tuna") is a 1997 novel by Buket Uzuner, which was awarded the 1998 Novel Prize ofIstanbul University and was republished in 2000 by Remzi Kitabevi in English language translation by Pelin Ariner.[7]
A 2001 short story collection by Buket Uzuner published byMilet Books, in dualTurkish and English language translation by Pelin Ariner, as part of its series ofTurkish-English Short Story Collections. The publisher states that the author:[8]
"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 inWriting in Education concludes that the author, "inThe Other Twin notably, is subtle, penetrating about human nature, and well able to project a powerful maxim or a sarcastic image."
The Sound of Fishsteps (Turkish:Balık İzlerinin Sesi) is a 1993 novel by 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.[9]
The Long White Cloud – Galipoli (Turkish:Uzun Beyaz Bulut – Gelibolu) is a 2001 novel by Buket Uzuner, which was a National Bestseller and was republished in 2002 by Remzi Kitabevi in English language translation by Pelin Ariner.[10]
Istanbullu is a 2007 novel by Buket Uzuner, which was republished in 2008 by Everest Yayınlari in English language translation by Kenneth Dakan.[11]
