Necatigil, Behçet

Born Oct. 1, 1916, in Istanbul. Turkish poet.

In 1940, Necatigil graduated from the department of language and literature of the Higher Pedagogical School in Istanbul. Since 1941 he has taught literature. His works first appeared in print in 1935. Necatigil is the author of many poetry collections; his collections Ancient Land (1956) and Summer Season (1963) were awarded the prize of the literary journal Yeditepe, in 1957 and 1964, respectively.

Necatigil’s poetry is socially oriented: he writes about the hard life of Turkish workers. The poetry collection Divançe (1965) is a protest against war. Necatigil is the author of the encyclopedic reference works Dictionary of Turkish Writers (7th ed., 1972) and Dictionary of Turkish Literature (1971). Necatigil has translated the works of A. P. Chekhov and other writers into Turkish.