The directory «Plots»

Orhan Veli Kanik
(1914—1950)

Orhan Veli Kanık was a Turkish poet. Orhan Veli, together with Oktay Rifat and Melih Cevdet, founded the Garip Movement. Orhan Veli's father was a conductor of the Presidential Symphony Orchestra. His younger brother, Adnan Veli, was a well known journalist whose prison memoirs, (he was incarcerated on political charges) "Mahpushane Cesmesi (The Prison Fountain)" was published in 1952. He studied in Istanbul University's philosophy Department for only one year before leaving school in 1935. He was employed by the Ministry of Education as a translator from 1945 to 1947. The remaining three years of his life he worked as a freelance translator and journalist. He is known for advocating a poetry without excessive stylistic elements and adjectives, and prefers a style closer to free-verse. He is known for his unique voice, and depth of emotion underlying the seemingly easy-coming nature of his verse. His poetry is highly admired by the public as well as in academic circles.

Turkey, 1993, Orhan Veli Kanik