Author • Turkish literature

Nihat Ziyalan

Nihat Ziyalan was born in Adana in 1936. After having his age officially raised in order to complete his military service early, he joined Adana Municipality Theatre as an actor. When the theatre closed, he first moved on to Ankara Art Theatre and later to Yeşilçam, Turkey’s film industry. He appeared in numerous films, large and small, often earning his living by playing villains who ended up taking a beating on screen. In 1980, following the crisis in Turkish cinema, he emigrated to Sydney. His poetry collections include Asık Yüzlünün Biri (1963), Güvercin Uçuşu (1980), Avustralya’dan Şiirler (1985), Sevgili Şiir (2007), Tomurcuk Sevda (2009), Çapkın Çiçekli (2015), Eve Götür Beni Nehir (2018), and Sevdakeş (2021). He also published the novels Güneşle Damgalı (2000) and Menekşeli Konak (2004), as well as the short-story collections Severim Pazartesileri (2005) and Üstüme Fazla Gelme Ayçelen (2015). Having developed a narrative poetic voice through the influence of the İkinci Yeni movement, an influential postwar movement in Turkish poetry, Ziyalan received the 1^st Çukurova Award in 2009. He continued to write for literary magazines and publish poetry throughout his life; his final poetry collection was Sen Neredeysen Oraya (2025). His young adult novel Sydney, Here I Come (Attım Kapağı Yurtdışına, 2010) was written for Günışığı Kitaplığı’s Bridge Books collection. This was followed by a revised edition of Love in Short Pants (Kısa Pantalonlu Sevda, 2011), a book composed of interconnected stories.The distinguished writer and poet passed away in Sydney on October 11, 2026.