Tomris Uyar

Tomris Uyar
Born	(1941-03-15) March 15, 1941 Istanbul, Turkey
Died	July 4, 2003(2003-07-04) (aged 62) Istanbul
Occupation(s)	Writer, journalist,translator

Tomris Uyar (15 March 1941 — 4 July 2003 ) was a Turkish writer.

Life and career

Uyar was born Rana Tomris Gedirk in Istanbul. Both her parents practiced law. Her grandfather was the Republican People's Party politician Süleyman Sırrı Gedik. She graduated in journalism in 1963 and lived in Istanbul as a freelance writer and translator.  From the mid-1960s she published stories, diaries and translations, as well as literary criticism..

Uyar is considered one of the most accomplished authors in her country, who deliberately dedicated herself to writing short stories, having eleven books of the genre published. Her translations of works from English, French and German, by authors including Virginia Woolf, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry and Gabriel García Márquez, played an important role in teaching Western literature in Turkey. Tomris Uyar had belonged to a group of poets since the 1960s that brought existentialism and surrealism to Turkish literature.  She was also a nationally known active opponent of the Vietnam War.

In 1975, together with Turgut Uyar, she won the Turkish Language Society (Türk Dil Kurumu) translation prize for the translation of Lucretius' natural encyclopedia De rerum natura (Evrenin yapisi, Istanbul 1974). In 1980 and 1987 she was one of two Turkish authors who were awarded the Sait Faik Literature Prize (Sait Faik Ödülü), the most prestigious narrative award in Turkey.  In the 1986/87 season she received the theater award "Avni Dilligil", in 2002 the award for the best narrative volume of the year from the magazine "Dünya".  In the same year she was awarded the Sedat Simavi Prize for Literature

Selected works

Short stories and other writings

• İpek ve bakır. Ankara: Bilgi Yayınevi, 1971 (5 Aufl.)
• Ödeşmeler. İstanbul: Sinan Yayınları, 1973 (3 Aufl.)
• Dizboyu papatyalar. İstanbul: Okar Yayınları, 1975 (5 Aufl)
• Yürekte bukağı: öyküler. İstanbul: Okar Yayınları, 1979 (4 Aufl.), ausgezeichnet mit dem Sait-Faik-Erzählpreis für 1980
• Sesler, yüzler, sokaklar. Istanbul: Hür, 1981
• Yaz düşleri / Düş kışları: öyküler. İstanbul: Ada Yayınları, 1981 (3 Aufl.)
• Diz boyu papatyalar. İstanbul: Adam Yayıncılık, 1982
• Gece gezen kızlar: öyküler. İstanbul: Ada Yayınları, 1983 (3 Aufl.)
• Rus ruleti. İstanbul: Can Yayınları, 1985
• Yaza yolculuk: öyküler. İstanbul: Can Yayınları, 1986 (4 Aufl.), ausgezeichnet mit dem Sait-Faik-Erzählpreis für 1987
• Sekizinci günah. Cağaloğlu, İstanbul: Can Yayınları, 1990 (2 Aufl.)
• İki yaka iki uç: öyküler. Istanbul: Gendaş Yayınları, 1992
• Otuzların kadını. Istanbul: Can Yayınları, 1992 (3 Aufl.)
• Tanışma günleri/anları: (1989-1995). Galatasaray, İstanbul: Can Yayınları, 1995
• Aramızdaki şey. Galatasaray, İstanbul: Can Yayınları, 1998 (3 Aufl.)
• Şiirde dün yok mu: Turgut Uyar üzerine yazılar. Galatasaray, İstanbul: Can Yayınları, 1999
• Yüzleşmeler : bir uyumsuzun notları, 1995-1999. Galatasaray, İstanbul: Can Yayınları, 2000

Diaries

• Gündökümü 75: günlük. ̇Istanbul: Koza Yayınları, 1976
• Gündökümü (1975-1980): bir uyumsuzun notları. İstanbul: Can Yayınları, 1990
• Günlerin tortusu (1980-1984): bir uyumsuzun notları. Istanbul, Ada Yayınları, 1985
• Yazılı günler (1985-1988). Istanbul: Can Yayınları, 1989

Bibliography

• Tayfun Demir: Türkische Literatur in deutscher Sprache. Eine Bibliographie mit Erläuterungen. Sekretariat für gemeinsame Kulturarbeit in NRW, Duisburg 1995, ISBN 3-89279-510-X, S. 80. (German)
• Luis Mitler: Contemporary Turkish writers. A critical bio-bibliography of leading writers in the Turkish Republican period up to 1980. Indiana University Press, Bloomington (Indiana) 1988, ISBN 0-933070-14-4, S. 259.