Erdal Öz Award goes to Murathan Mungan

ISTANBUL - Doğan News Agency

Poet Murathan Mungan (R) receives his award at a ceremony at Pera Museum.

The Erdal Öz Literary Award, which has been given to a poet or writer every year since 2008 in memory of late writer Erdal Öz, was presented to poet Murathan Mungan on April 5 in a ceremony at the Pera Museum.

“I met Öz in 1973. He was running a bookstore, and I was working for a bank. I would go to the bookstore with great enthusiasm every day, and enjoyed talking with Öz about books. Any person may write books or be interested in literature, but being passionate about literature is not something we see all the time. I always respect people who are addicted to literature with love and passion,” Mungan said at the ceremony.

The selection committee, which includes Enis Batur, Semih Gümüş, Feride Çiçekoğlu, Turgay Fişekçi, Kaya Genç, Nüket Esen and Zeynep Çağlıyor, chose Mungan as the 2012 recipient of the award for his creativity, innovation and competence as the author of plays, poetry, stories, novels and essays for more than 30 years.

Past Erdal Öz Awards have been presented to Gülten Akın, İhsan Oktay Anar, Nurdan Gürbilek and Şavkar Altınel.