Orhan Veli Kanik

Orhan Veli Kanik 

(pen name, Mehmet Ali Sel). Born Apr. 13, 1914, in Istanbul; died there Sept. 14, 1950. Turkish poet.

Orhan Veli Kanik studied in the philosophy division of the faculty of literature of the University of Istanbul. He worked in various government institutions. In 1949–50 he was editor of the literary journal Yaprak (Folio). His friendship with the poets Melih Cevdet Anday and Oktay Rifat Horozçu led to the collaboration known as Saçayak (Tripod).

Orhan Veli Kanik strove to democratize poetry, focusing on everyday phenomena and the life and inner world of the common man. He was the author of the collections I Cannot Give up (1945), Like an Epic (1946), The New One (1947), and Across (1949). His critical articles and short stories were collected in Prose Articles (1953; 2nd ed., To the Sea, 1970).

WORKS

Bütün şiirlerl Istanbul, 1951.
Nasrettin hocanin hikâyeleri. Istanbul, 1949.
Nesir yazilan. Istanbul, 1953.
In Russian translation:
Dlia vas. Moscow, 1961.

REFERENCES

Babaev, A. A. Ocherki sovremennoi turetskoi literatury. Moscow, 1959.
Fish, R. Pisateli Turtsii: Knigi i sud’by. Moscow, 1963.
Uyguner, M. Orhan Veli Kanik Istanbul, 1972.

KH. A. CHOREKCHIAN