Murathan Mungan: The Word Virtuoso

The author of poetry, plays, prose, film scenarios and songs. One of the most read Turkish writers of today and the unofficial spokesman of the LGBT community in Turkey. He was born in Istanbul in 1955, and after graduating from the Ankara University, he worked as a dramaturge in theatres in Ankara and Istanbul. At the age of 25, he became a star overnight when his first collection of poems Osmanlıya Dair Hikayat [Stories about Ottomans] was published. Since then, he has published another 30 books of poetry and prose. Two of his plays, Mahmud ile Yezida [Mahmud and Yezida] and Taziye [Condolence], are two of the most staged plays of the modern Turkish theatre. His short stories collections, such as Üç Aynalı Kırk Oda [Forty Rooms with Three Mirrors], are among the best works that contemporary Turkish literature has to offer.