Author • Turkish literature
Doğu Yücel
He was born in 1977, in Istanbul. He graduated from the Economics department of Dokuz Eylül University and pursued his master’s in Radio-Television and Film at Istanbul University. The author entered the world of literature with awards he won in the Gençlik Kitabevi Story Competition (1997) and the Nostromo Science Fiction Short Story Competition (1999). His first book, Dreams, Nightmares, and Future Tales (Düşler, Kâbuslar ve Gelecek Masalları, 2000), was a compilation of his short stories. In 2002, his first novel Ghost Book (Hayalet Kitap) hit the shelves. Adapted from the same book, he worked on the screenplay for the film School (Okul, 2004); this was followed by the screenplay of another Taylan Brothers film The Little Apocalypse (Küçük Kıyamet, 2006). Yücel continued his literary journey with his story books Sun Thieves (Güneş Hırsızları, 2014), The Man Who Learnt that He Died from Google and Other Weird Stories (Öldüğünü Google’dan Öğrenen Adam ve Diğer Tuhaf Hikâyeler, 2019); and his novels Nonexistents (Varolmayanlar, 2011), Who the Hell is Mitat? (Kimdir Bu Mitat Karaman?, 2017) and Curse You, Mitat! (Beter Ol Mitat Karaman!, 2022). His darkly humorous crime novel Who the Hell is Mitat? has been adapted into a film titled Mitat (2023). The author, whose stories have been featured in compilations like Snow Covered Tracks (Kar İzleri Örttü), Artist Stories (Sanatçı Öyküler), Gluttonish (Güçoburlar), İstanbul 2099 and Murathan Mungan’s Selections - Men Loneliness (Murathan Mungan’ın Seçtikleriyle - Erkekler Yalnızlıklar) also wrote Worlds Apart (Uzak Dünyalar, 2023), which is about the adventure of a group of young kids with a stranger that comes from afar, for the Bridge Books collection of Günışığı Kitaplığı. Known for his literary contribution to various publishings in the sphere of cinema, music and literature, Yücel lives in Istanbul.