Necati Cumalı

Necati Cumalı
Born	13 January 1921 Florina, Greece
Died	10 January 2001 Istanbul, Turkey

Necati Cumalı (13 January 1921 – 10 January 2001) was a Turkish writer of novels, short-stories, essays and poetry. He was born in Florina, Greece, and his family had settled in Urla near İzmir in the framework of the 1923 agreement for the population exchange between Greece and Turkey.

He grew up in Urla and did his studies in İzmir and he started his law education at İstanbul University then completed it in the Law School of the University of Ankara. He started writing poetry while still a student and his poems were published as of early 1940s in such prominent Turkish literary periodicals as Varlık and Servet-i Fünun. Toward the end of that decade, while he was doing his military service, he also started writing short stories in which the profound influence of another important Turkish writer, Sabahattin Ali, could be felt. This, and the themes of social consciousness obvious in his works could be the reason for which he was sometimes cited in the same title as other "writers of the left", although he never actively engaged in political issues.

His vivid portrayal of women in his works was particularly noted.

Author of about 15 books of poetry, and that many books of short-stories and novels, as well as plays, Necati Cumalı died on 10 January 2001 in Istanbul.

His valuable collection of books was donated to Koç University after his death.

In 2002 a sculpture of Cumali was erected in the Vişnezade Park in Beşiktaş, Istanbul made by Gürdal Duyar.

One of his best known works is the short-novel, "Dry Summer" (Susuz Yaz), adapted by the film director Metin Erksan to cinema in 1964, starring Hülya Koçyiğit and Erol Taş, and which won the Golden Bear award in Berlin Film Festival that year.

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