Dilek Mayatürk

Dilek Mayatürk was born in Istanbul in 1986, where she also began her studies in sociology. She continued her studies at the Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt and then worked as a documentary film producer and author for various media. She writes poetry in German and Turkish.

Her first volume of poetry »Cesaret Koleksiyonu« (tr: Collection of Courage) was published in Turkey in 2014, followed by the volume »Brache« (2020) published in Germany. This bilingual book contains poems from 16 years of work. Mayatürk finds strong images for existential feelings such as anger, pain, love, and loss. »With strong and sometimes glaring images, Dilek Mayatürk poetically criticizes an outdated, patriarchal attitude toward the world. ›Brache‹ is a powerful accusation and at the same time the poetic self-empowerment of an alert and sensitive poet. The older poems in particular express a piercing sense of abandonment … An unsparing, female voice«, according to DLF Kultur. In 2021, »Bir Daha Yok Çiçeği« was published in Turkish.

Mayatürk has received several awards for her poetry in Turkey: in 2010 she received the Cahit Sıtkı Tarancı Honorable Mention, in 2015 the Gürhan Uçkan Poetry Award, and in 2021 the third prize of the Kemal Özer Poetry Award. In Germany, she has received literary scholarships from the Berlin Senate of Culture (2022), Schloss Wiepersdorf (2024), Casa Baldi (2024), Kulturakademie Tarabya (2023/2024), and Stiftung Preußische Seehandlung (2023). Mayatürk also performs with multidisciplinary composer Amen Feizabadi in an ambitious duo performance in which words and sounds enter into dialogue with each other.

She lives in Berlin.

Cesaret Koleksiyonu
Yeniinsan
Istanbul, 2014

Brache. Gedichte
Hanser Berlin
Berlin, 2020
(Ü: Achim Wagner)

Bir Daha Yok Çiçeği
Klaros
Ankara, 2021