Ilhan Berk

İlhan Berk was a leading Turkish poet who was a dominant figure in the postmodern current in Turkish poetry. He was born in Manisa, Turkey in 1918 and witnessed the Fire of Manisa as a child. He received a teacher's training in Balıkesir and graduated from the French Language Department of Gazi University in Ankara. He worked as a teacher, a translator, and a publisher for many years. He translated works by Arthur Rimbaud, Ezra Pound, and Paul Valéry into Turkish. He also wrote essays on literature, art, and philosophy. He published more than 30 poetry books, including History of a Face, The Book of Things, Madrigals, and A Leaf About to Fall. His poetry was influenced by mythology, history, geography, and visual arts. He used a rich and diverse vocabulary that included colloquial words, musical terms, and local names of plants. He experimented with different forms and styles, such as free verse, prose poems, collage, and concrete poetry. He aimed to make the object visible in its glory and to break down the meaning. He was very influential among Turkish literary circles and received several awards, such as the Necatigil Poetry Award and the Sedat Simavi Award. He died in Bodrum, Turkey in 2008 from heart failure. He was buried in the same city.