ATİLLA, Mehmet

Poet and writer (b. 25 January 1959, Bodrum / Muğla). He attended Bodrum Akçaalan Primary School, Bodrum Turgutreis Secondary School (1972), İzmir Mithatpaşa Industrial Vocational School (1975) and graduated from Ankara High Technical Teacher Training School (1979). He worked as a technical teacher at industry high schools in Samsun, Yozgat Akdağmadeni (Yozgat) and İzmir and retired in 2003, after which he continued his studies in İzmir.

Writing primarily in the areas of poetry, short story and children’s literature, Atilla’s poems have been published in the reviews Milliyet Sanat, Aydınca, Düşlem, Kıyı, Dize, Damar, Bir, Yeni Biçem, Yaşasın Edebiyat, Bahçe, Varlık and Kum, and his short stories have appeared in the reviews Fayton, Üçüncü Öyküler, Adam Öykü and Ünlem. He ranked second in the short story division of the Union of Agricultural Co-Operatives Literary Awards (1993), second at the Kıyı Dergisi Column Competition (1995), first at the Mevlüt Kaplan Children’s Story Competition (1996) and collected the Leyla Erbil Short Story Award at the Ankara Short Story Days Competition (2000) and the Bilgi Publishing House E-book Short Story Award (2002). He was also honored with special awards at the PEN Edip Cansever Poetry Competition (1996) and Arkadaş Z. Özger Poetry Competition (1999).

WORKS:

CHILDREN’S LITERATURE: İngiltere’den Gelen Konuk (The Visitor from the United Kingdom, novel, 1997), Benim Adım Zeybek (My Name is Zeybek, novel, 1997), Defterim Işık Saçıyor (My Notebook is Gleaming, poetry, 1997), Bir Bayram Günü (One Day of Holiday, short story, 1998), Dalgalar Nereye Gidiyor (Where Do the Waves Go?, novel, 1999), Uzaydaki Karanfil (The Carnation in Space, short story, 1999), Bir Bayram Günü (A Day of the Festival, short story, 1998), Bilgisayardaki Saklambaç (Hide-and-Seek on a Computer, short story, 2001), Balıklar Tiyatroda (Fish at the Theatre, novel, 2003), Formik İle Mirmik (Formik and Mirmik, novel, 2004).

POETRY: Beşinci Tat Şiirleri (Poems of the Fifth Delight, 2004).

JUVENILE NOVEL: Yüzümde Kırlangıç Gölgesi (A Swallow’s Shadow on my Face, 2000), Gözlerinde Gece Yok (There is No Night in Your Eyes, 2002).

SHORT STORY: Sancı Yılanı (Snake of Suffering, 2003).