WRITER

Yaşar Kemal

1923 - 2015

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Yaşar Kemal (Turkish pronunciation: [ˈjaʃaɾ ceˈmal]; born Kemal Sadık Gökçeli; 6 October 1923 – 28 February 2015) was a leading Turkish writer of Kurdish descent, who wrote in Turkish and a human rights activist. He received 38 awards during his lifetime and had been a candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature on the strength of his 1955 novel Memed, My Hawk. An outspoken intellectual, he often did not hesitate to speak about sensitive issues, especially those concerning the oppression of the Kurdish people. He was tried in 1995 under anti-terror laws for an article he wrote for Der Spiegel highlighting the Turkish Army's destruction of Kurdish villages during the Turkish–Kurdish conflict. Read more on Wikipedia

His biography is available in different languages on Wikipedia. Yaşar Kemal is the 1,797th most popular writer (down from 1,594th in 2019), the 632nd most popular biography from Türkiye (down from 561st in 2019) and the 48th most popular Turkish Writer.

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Among WRITERS

Among writers, Yaşar Kemal ranks 1,797 out of 7,302Before him are Gabriel Naudé, Ibn Kemal, Lilya Brik, Colin Dexter, Juan Carlos Onetti, and Gaius Julius Solinus. After him are Slavenka Drakulić, Louis-Sébastien Mercier, Li He, Stéphane Hessel, Augusto Boal, and Ion Luca Caragiale.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1923, Yaşar Kemal ranks 106Before him are Shūsaku Endō, Bettie Page, Antony Flew, Edward Mulhare, Otfried Preußler, and Madeleine Lebeau. After him are Aaron Spelling, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Belisario Betancur, Álvaro Mutis, Ernst Nolte, and Menahem Pressler. Among people deceased in 2015, Yaşar Kemal ranks 101Before him are Akiyuki Nosaka, Infante Carlos, Duke of Calabria, Cabu, Ornette Coleman, Satoru Iwata, and Gerry Byrne. After him are Jaakko Hintikka, Jean-Pierre Beltoise, Omar Karami, Arsen Dedić, Dean Smith, and Eldar Ryazanov.

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In Türkiye

Among people born in Türkiye, Yaşar Kemal ranks 632 out of 1,347Before him are Cüneyt Arkın (1937), Sultan Walad (1226), Şehzade Bayezid (1612), Ibn Kemal (1468), George Sphrantzes (1401), and Maria Palaiologina (1300). After him are Mithridates II of Pontus (-300), Mesut Yılmaz (1947), Alexios II of Trebizond (1282), Ebussuud Efendi (1490), Theodore I (1290), and Maximus of Ephesus (310).

Among WRITERS In Türkiye

Among writers born in Türkiye, Yaşar Kemal ranks 48Before him are Quintus Smyrnaeus (400), Symeon the Metaphrast (900), Marcellinus Comes (450), Eustathius of Thessalonica (1101), Menander Protector (550), and Ibn Kemal (1468). After him are Theodore I (1290), Petros Markaris (1937), Namık Kemal (1840), Nicander (-250), Alexander Polyhistor (-100), and Methodius of Olympus (260).