Selçuk Altun’s Followers (67)

Selçuk Altun

Born

Artvin, Turkey

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Selçuk Altun (born 1950) is a Turkish writer, publisher and retired banking executive.

Born in Artvin, Turkey in 1950, he graduated from the Management Department of Boğaziçi University. He began work in the finance sector in 1974 and was chairman of Yapi Kredi Bank and executive board director of the YKY (Yapı Kredi Publications), where he amassed a personal library of 9,000 volumes and published works by Louise Glück and John Ashbery, before he retired in 2004 to pursue his full timewriting career.

“My goal was to write a book by the age of 50,” he says. “Before that, I knew I needed to read, so I read some 4,000 books before I sat down to write. That, more than anything, gave me the confidence I needed.” His first novel Yalnızlık Gittiğin Selçuk Altun (born 1950) is a Turkish writer, publisher and retired banking executive.

Born in Artvin, Turkey in 1950, he graduated from the Management Department of Boğaziçi University. He began work in the finance sector in 1974 and was chairman of Yapi Kredi Bank and executive board director of the YKY (Yapı Kredi Publications), where he amassed a personal library of 9,000 volumes and published works by Louise Glück and John Ashbery, before he retired in 2004 to pursue his full timewriting career.

“My goal was to write a book by the age of 50,” he says. “Before that, I knew I needed to read, so I read some 4,000 books before I sat down to write. That, more than anything, gave me the confidence I needed.” His first novel Yalnızlık Gittiğin Yoldan Gelir (Loneliness Comes from the Road You Go Down) was published in 2001 and has been subsequently followed by four further novels, a book of essays and a regular monthly column titled Kitap İçin (For the Love of Books) in the Cumhuriyet.

“I regard myself as a ‘person who writes’ rather than a ‘writer,’”, “I do not make a living on what I receive from my books. I transfer all royalties from my books to a scholarship fund I've founded at the university I graduated from. It provides scholarships to successful university students who study literature.” “In any case, whenever I want to write, I feel the urge to read first.”

“I believe that in both Turkish and world literature, bibliophilic protagonists and narrators in particular do not appear as much as they should,” states the self confessed bibliophile, who maintains he reads far more than he writes, “Besides, these characters do not like showing up in trashy novels that sweep the book market. Yet I believe the elite group called ‘literary readers’ do embrace them.” “In my novels, the setting is as important as the central characters. For this reason, I go on special voyages. These voyages nurture me; each time, I set on the road wondering how that particular voyage will nurture me.”

In order to bring his books to an international audience, the author himself paid for the English translation of his fourth novel Songs My Mother Never Taught Me. This translation, by Ruth Christie and Selçuk Berilgen, was published by Telegram Books in 2008 and sold 3,000 copies in the UK, but while the English publisher opted to follow it with Many and Many a Year Ago in 2009 and various German, Swiss, Spanish and Portuguese houses have expressed an interested in buying rights, “the global economic crisis seems to have stopped the process,” and, “Three foreign publishing houses acquired the rights to publish Songs My Mother Never Taught Me, but that was it!”

“There are many reasons for the limited number of Turkish authors and poets translated into English,” Altun stated in an interview with The Guardian, “Sadly Nobel prize-winner Orhan Pamuk's success hasn't yet increased Anglo-American interest in Turkish authors and poets,” before going on to list works by Feyyaz Kayacan Fergar, Oktay Rifat, Yaşar Kemal, Sait Faik, Bilge Karasu, Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar, Nazım Hikmet as well as Pamuk among his top 10 Turkish books. ...more

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Selçuk Altun’s books

Average rating: 3.43 · 2,028 ratings · 323 reviews · 18 distinct works • Similar authors

	Ayrılık Çeşmesi Sokağı 3.37 avg rating — 452 ratings — published 2020 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Sultan of Byzantium by Selçuk Altun, Clifford Endres (Translator), Selhan Savcıgil-Endres (Translator) 3.22 avg rating — 449 ratings — published 2011 — 26 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Songs My Mother Never Taught Me by Selçuk Altun, Ruth Christie (Translator), Selçuk Berilgen (Translator) 3.23 avg rating — 309 ratings — published 2005 — 14 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Yalnızlık Gittiğin Yoldan Gelir 3.63 avg rating — 167 ratings — published 2001 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Ardıç Ağacının Altında 3.44 avg rating — 113 ratings — published 2017	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Many and Many a Year Ago by Selçuk Altun, Clifford Endres (Translator), Selhan Savcıgil-Endres (Translator) 3.62 avg rating — 89 ratings — published 2007 — 9 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Bir Sen Yakınsın Uzakta Kalınca 3.88 avg rating — 73 ratings — published 2002 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Buraları Rüzgar Buraları Yağmur 3.73 avg rating — 74 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	İşte Geldim Deniz Kenarı 3.81 avg rating — 57 ratings — published 2023	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Sol Omzuna Güneşi Asmadan Gelme 3.50 avg rating — 50 ratings — published 2014	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Selçuk Altun…

Series by Selçuk Altun

Hayat Romanlardan Daha Tuhaf (3 books)
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3.43 avg rating — 622 ratings

Kitap İçin (5 books)
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3.81 avg rating — 126 ratings

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Selçuk Altun’s Followers (67)

Selçuk Altun

Combine EditionsSelçuk Altun’s books

Series by Selçuk Altun

Topics Mentioning This Author

Combine Editions
Selçuk Altun’s books