Tuna Kiremitçi
Born in Eskişehir Kiremitçi completed his secondary education in Ankara. His first poems were published in the literary magazine Varlık. With his first poetry book “Ayabakanlar” (Moon Watchers) published in 1994 he has received the prestigious “Yaşar Nabi Nayır Poetry Award.” And he shared the “Erguvan Balkan Poetry Award" with the Bosnian poet İzzet Sarayliç in 1997. Then in 1998 he published his second poetry book "Akademi" (The Academy). His first novel “Git Kendini Çok Sevdirmeden” (Leave Before I Fall In) published in 2002 was widely acclaimed and became one of the great events of popular literature that year. Besides subsequent poetry books, he published several other novels: "Bu İşte Bir Yalnızlık Var" (There is A Lonelinesss in That, 2003), "Yolda Üç Kişi" (Three On the Road, 2005), “Dualar Kalıcıdır” (Prayers Stay the Same, 2007) and “Küçüğe bir Dondurma” (An Ice Cream For the Kid, 2009). His novels were translated into various languages. Also with his short-length films he reieceived awards from various film festivals. He is at the same time a scenario writer and a newspaper columnist. In the 1990’s he founded the ethnic rock band Kumdan Kaleler (Sand Castles) with his friends and they released two albums: “Denize Doğru” (To the Sea, 1996, by Ada Music) and “Kendi Halinde” (Simple-Mindedly, 2007). At the moment he is actively carrying on his writing career.