YUSUF ALPER

Yusuf Alper was born in Horasan, Erzurum, in 1956 (registered in 1958). His early poems were published starting in 1975 in magazines such as “Ilgaz”, “Türk Dili”, “Oluşum”, “Sesimiz”, “Dönemeç”, “Türkiye Yazıları”, “Ankara Sanat”, “Yusufçuk”, and “Somut”. Subsequently, his work appeared in publications including “Varlık”, “Yazko-Edebiyat”, “Yeni Düşün”, “Broy”, “Karşı”, “Şairin Atölyesi”, “Yeni Biçem”, “Dize”, “Düşler”, “Poetik’us”, “Çağdaş Türkdili”, “E Dergisi”, “Akatalpa”, “Yasakmeyve”, “Ünlem”, “Şiiri Özlüyorum”, “Hayal”, “Kitaplık”, “Özgür Edebiyat”, “H. Gösteri”, “Sincan İstasyonu”, “Eliz”, “Şiirden”, “Kurşun Kalem”, “Caz Kedisi”, “Sarmal Çevrim”, “Çini Kitap”, and “Gargalak”. He continues to publish his poems and essays on poetry in various magazines, as well as book reviews in “Cumhuriyet Kitap” and the “Birgün” newspaper.

In his poetry, he addresses with a lyrical and original voice, the individual struggles, inner conflicts, communication breakdowns, and melancholy of the human being as a social entity, as well as conflicts with society and the impact of social pressures, oppression, and war on the individual. His early poems attracted the attention of prominent critics. He maintained that while poetry is written through imagery, it inevitably conveys meaning, regardless of the extent to which it relies on association. Cemal Süreya wrote the following regarding his second book, “Zamanın Kırılan Aynasında” (In the Shattered Mirror of Time): “And to love Yusuf Alper in “Zamanın Kırılan Aynasında”. Yusuf sustains the poetic sensibility of Anatolia from its very depths. Great Sorrow. … I say let us reflect on young poets. I say our opinions have become rigid and are mistaken. No one dares to make comparisons.”

Yusuf Alper has authored fourteen poetry collections: “Kanayan Şiirler” (1985, 1997, 2014), “Zamanın Kırılan Aynasında” (1989, 1997, 2014), “Yaldızlı Bir Yanılsama” (1994, 2008), “Yeryüzüne Vuran Telaş” (1995, 2018), “Şimdi Hangi Irmakta” (1998, 2008, 2019), “Dalgaların Sesiyle” (2001, 2018), “Derin Uğultu” (2005), “Oynayan Ve Avunan” (2007, 2018), “Zamanı Geçtim” (2011, 2013), “Yolda” (2014, 2022), “Dünyanın Gürültüsü” (2016, 2019), “Bir İnsan Sesi Duymak” (2019), “Hüzün Bir Duruştur” (2020), and “İki Sen Arasında” (2026). He received the “1999 Orhon Murat Arıburnu Awards – Sabahattin Kudret Aksal Poetry Special Award” for “Şimdi Hangi Irmakta”. “Zamanı Geçtim” was awarded the “2012 Abdülkadir Bulut Poetry Special Award,” and he won the “2014 Yunus Nadi Poetry Award” for “Yolda”. He was presented with the “2018 Kemal Özer Poetry Honorary Award” for his collective body of poetic work. His collected poems, comprising his first eight books, were published in 2008 under the title “Giderim Giderim Dünya Yuvarlak”. His collected poems, spanning thirteen of his books, were published in 2021 under the title “Sonsuza Akan Irmakta”.

Poet Yusuf Alper has been invited to numerous national and international poetry festivals. He has participated in international poetry festivals in locations such as Sarajevo (1997), Belgrade (2013), and Sète, France (2014), as well as various national poetry events. His poems have been translated into languages ​​including English, French, Spanish, Bosnian, and Serbian, and have appeared in various anthologies. His book of essays, “Şair Her Zaman”, a collection of his writings and speeches on poetry, was published in 2005. An expanded edition, which also includes the contents of that earlier book, was published in 2022 under the title “Şiirin Kurtuluşu”.

Alper has authored books of essays and analyses compiling his writings on topics such as the artist’s psychodynamics, the creative process, and the creative personality titled “At the Intersection of Poetry and Psychiatry” (2001, 2010) and “Psychoanalysis and Love” (2003, 2012, 2016). Additionally, he has published psychodynamic studies on poets and their work, including “Nâzım Hikmet’s Poetry from a Psychological and Psychodynamic Perspective” (2005, 2007), “Ahmet Erhan and His Poetry from a Psychodynamic Perspective” (2006, 2023), “Cemal Süreya and His Poetry from a Psychodynamic Perspective: My Mother Died When I Was Very Young” (2008, 2018), “Haydar Ergülen and His Poetry from a Psychodynamic Perspective” (2010), “Metin Cengiz and His Poetry from a Psychodynamic Perspective” (2010), “Enver Ercan and His Poetry from a Psychodynamic Perspective” (2015), “I Come to You Crossing Abysses: Ataol Behramoğlu and His Poetry from a Psychodynamic Perspective” (2019), and “Ahmet Telli and His Poetry from a Psychodynamic Perspective” (2023). “The Psychoanalysis of Turkish Poetry” was published in 2020, and “The Psychoanalysis of Turkish Poetry, Volume 2” in 2026. Furthermore, his psychodynamic analyses regarding numerous Turkish poets and writers have been, and continue to bepublished in respected literary journals.

He earns his living as a psychiatrist.