BİRCAN ÇELİK

Bircan Çelik was born on July 1 in the Bafra district of Samsun. She completed her primary and secondary education in the Alaçam district of Samsun. Due to unfavorable circumstances, she had to leave her education in her second year at the Department of Turkish Language and Literature at Ondokuz Mayıs University’s Faculty of Letters. She completed her associate degree at the Department of Economics at Eskişehir Anadolu University. She later studied at the Department of Handicrafts Design and Painting at the Ankara Higher School of Fine Arts and worked as an educator in this field across various provinces.

Between 2003 and 2007, she wrote poetry, short stories, and articles on contemporary art for the culture and arts column “Bircan Hanım’dan Mektup Var” (A Letter from Ms. Bircan) in Haber newspaper.

She has served as a invited speaker at various universities, high schools, and TÜYAP Book Fairs including Eskişehir Osmangazi University, Samsun Ondokuz Mayıs University, and Yeditepe University, delivering presentations on topics such as “Women, Violence, and Poetry,” “Tradition and Contemporary Turkish Poetry,” “Exile Literature, Language Migration, and Identity Issue,” “Intercultural Bonds in Eastern and Western Literature,” “New Language Structuring in Female Poets,” “The Image of Woman and Womanhood in Gülten Akın’s Poetry,” and “Feminism and Postfeminist Ideology Through Gender Cartography.” She has also participated as a speaker at the Romania International Poetry Festival, the Datça Can Yücel Poetry Festival, and the Gümüşlük Academy Women Poets Meeting.

Her poems and interviews, translated into French, Romanian, Hindi, English, Italian, and Persian, have appeared in numerous international poetry anthologies, poetry yearbooks, poetry selections, and literary journals. She actively contributes to various literary journals with her poetry, essays, poetic analyses, research papers, and interviews, while also serving as an editor for special thematic issues.

She is a member of the Authors’ Association of Turkey (Edebiyatçılar Derneği), the Writers’ Syndicate of Turkey (TYS), and the Science, Art, and Literature Association (BİSED), as well as a jury member for the Gülten Akın Poetry Award. She resides in Ankara.

Her poems, essays, critical analyses, research articles, interviews with poets, and short stories have been published, and continue to be featured in prominent literary magazines such as Varlık, Yasakmeyve, Kitap-lık, Virüs, Mühür, Akköy, Hayâl, Sincan İstasyonu, Ecinniler, Hürriyet Gösteri, and Öteki Eleştiri. She is currently preparing a collection of research essays on Turkish and world poetry, alongside a new poetry book.

Published Works:

• Şiirin Mor Kanatları (The Purple Wings of Poetry): Essay / Critical Analysis / Research (Mühür Kitaplığı, Istanbul, April 2017)
• İncelikler Okulu (School of Subtleties): Interviews with Poets (Pikaresk Yayınevi, Izmir, October 2023)
• Raylar Yeşil İspinoz (Rails Green Finch): Poetry (Öteki Yayınevi, Istanbul, November 2020)
• Esmer Nehir (Brunette River): Poetry (Öteki Yayınevi, Istanbul, November 2018)
• Geceyi Kırsam (If I Were to Break the Night): Poetry (Mühür Kitaplığı, Istanbul, March 2014)
• Yıldız Evi Yanık Su (Star House Burnt Water): Poetry (KKMY, Ankara, March 2012)
• Tutkularına Asılarak (Hanging by One’s Passions): Poetry (KKMY, Ankara, February 2011)