Nevzat Üstün

Nevzat Üstün (* 1924 in Istanbul , † November 8, 1979 in Bolu ) was a Turkish poet and writer.

Nevzat Üstün was born in Istanbul in 1924 to a wealthy family. He spent his primary school in Develi, Kayseri . After graduating from high school, he went to Paris in 1946, after two years he returned to Turkey without finishing his studies. Here he turned to journalism after his military service. He was a co-founder of the magazine Nokta (point) and wrote in the feature pages of various newspapers: for example in 1961 in Tanin , 1962 in Ekspres , 1963 in Vatan , 1964 in İkdam and Yeni Tanin . He was best known for his poems published in numerous magazines. He died on November 8, 1979 as a result of a traffic accident.

It was shaped by French poets such as Paul Valéry and Paul Verlaine as well as the Garip current around Orhan Veli . From these models and traditional Turkish satire, he developed his own style. His works are mostly devoted to social problems and struggles.

In Turkey, Nevzat Üstün, like numerous other socially critical authors, is often understood as a representative of socialist realism , although their style and content are sometimes very different from that.

His stories were u. a. translated into Russian, Czech and Bulgarian.

Nevzat Üstün Prize

His family donated the Nevzat Üstün Prize for Poems and Stories , which has been awarded annually since 1980 on November 8th, the anniversary of Nevzat Üstün's death. Since 1982, awards have been made to poets in one year and narrators in the next.

Some award winners:

• Osman Şahin: Bunlardan Ağız İçinde Dil (Nevzat Üstün Öykü Ödülü, 1980)
• Ali Yüce: Halk Çağı (Nevzat Üstün Şiir Ödülü, 1980)
• Hüseyin Yurttaş: Sanayi Çarşısı (Nevzat Üstün Şiir Başarı Ödülü, 1980)
• Hasan Hüseyin Korkmazgil: Filiz Kıran Fırtınası (Nevzat Üstün Şiir Ödülü, 1981)
• Ahmet Özer: Ayrı Beraberlikler (Nevzat Üstün Şiir Başarı Ödülü, 1981)
• Hidayet Karakuş: Hangi Leylasın Sen (Nevzat Üstün Şiir Ödülü, 1982)
• Şükran Kurdakul: Bir Yürekten Bir Yaşamdan (Nevzat Üstün Şiir Ödülü, 1983)

Works

Poems:

• Oluş (1946)
• Yaşadığımız Devre Dair Şiirler (1951)
• Cüceler Çarşısı (1955)
• Yitikler Kapısı (1960)
• Güneş Ülkesi (1964)
• Hey Sen Amerikalı (1967)
• Köprübaşı (1968, collected poems)
• Ak Yeşil Kavak Ağaçları (1972)
• Beklenen Sabah (1978, Selected Poems)

Stories:

• Yaşama Duvarı (1964)
• Almanya Almanya (1965)
• Çıplak (1966)
• Akrep Üretme Çiftliği (1968)
• Çıplak (1970, collective edition of the first four volumes of stories)
• Boğaların Ölümü (1975)

Travel writings:

• Sovyetler Birliği'nden Batı'ya (1966)
• Üçüncü Bir Dünya (1974)
• Almanya Beyleri ile Portekiz Bahçeleri (1975)

Others:

• Türkiye'deki Amerika (1967 two-volume, 1969 one-volume)