Yaşar Kemal (born October 6?, 1923, Hemite [now Gökçedam], Turkey—died February 28, 2015, Istanbul) was a Turkish novelist ofKurdish descent best known for his stories of village life and for his outspokenadvocacy on behalf of the dispossessed.

A childhood mishap blinded Kemal in one eye, and at age five he saw his father murdered in amosque. He left secondary school after two years and worked at a variety of odd jobs. In 1950 he was arrested for his political activism, but he was ultimately acquitted. The following year Kemal moved toIstanbul and was hired as a reporter for the dailynewspaperCumhuriyet, where he worked in various capacities until 1963. During this time he published anovella,Teneke (1955; “The Tin Pan”), and thenovelİnce Memed (1955;Memed, My Hawk). The latter, a popular tale about a bandit and folk hero, was translated into more than 20 languages and was made into a movie in 1984. Kemal wrote three more novels featuring Memed as the protagonist. In 1962 he joined the Turkish Workers Party, and in 1967 he foundedAnt, a weekly politicalmagazine informed byMarxistideology. He was arrested again in 1971, and in 1996 a court sentenced him to a deferred jail term foralleged seditious statements about the Turkish government’s oppression of the Kurdish people.

Kemal’s other novels include the Dağin öte yüzü (“Beyond the Mountain”) trilogy—Ortadirek (1960;The Wind from the Plain),Yer demir, gök bakır (1963;Iron Earth, Copper Sky), andÖlmez otu (1968;The Undying Grass)—as well asTanyeri horozları (2002; “The Cocks of Dawn”). He also published volumes of nonfiction—includingPeri bacaları (1957; “The Fairy Chimneys”), a collection of reportage, andBaldaki tuz (1974; “The Salt in the Honey”), a book of political essays—as well as the children’s bookFiller sultanı ile kırmızı sakallı topal karınca (1977; “The Sultan of the Elephants and the Red-Bearded Lame Ant”). In 2007 an operaticadaptation of Kemal’sTeneke premiered atLa Scala, in Milan.

Britannica Quiz

Classic Children’s Books Quiz