Murathan Mungan
He finished his primary, middle and high school education in Mardin. In 1972, he moved to Ankara, and completed his bachelor’s and master’s degree at the Theater Department in the Faculty of Language and History-Geography at Ankara University. He started his doctoral degree but discontinued.
Mungan worked as a dramaturge at the Ankara State Theatre for 6 years, and then at the Istanbul City Theatre for 3 years. In 1975, he began publishing his writings including poetry, stories, novels, essays, theater plays, film scenarios, fairy tales, and song lyrics in many newspapers and magazines. His first book “Mahmut ile Yezida”, which was the first play of the “Mezopotamya Üçlemesi” series, was published in 1980. He received second prize with this book in a competition, which was organized by Turkish Is Bank. His first theater play “Bir Garip Orhan Veli” premiered in 1981, and was published as a book in 1993. Mungan won first prize for his poem “Sahtiyan” in a poem contest, which was held by Gösteri magazine in 1981. He became famous with his poem book “Metal” (1994). Mungan was selected as the best playwright along with Mehmet Baydın by the Ankara Art Society for his book “Taziye”, which was the second play of “Mezopotamya Üçlemesi” series. The play premiered at the Ankara Art Theatre in 1984. In 1987, Mungan edited the culture-art page in the Söz newspaper.
Since 1988, he has worked as a freelance writer. In 1987, he received the Haldun Taner Story Award with Nedim Gürsel for the story “Hedda Golder Dile Bir Kadın”. In 1992, Mungan completed the “Geyikler Lanetler”, which was the third play of his “Mezopotamya Üçlemesi” series, and was published as a book by Metis publications. In 1994, his play series “Mezopotamya Üçlemesi” was staged by the Ankara State Theatre. The play “Geyikler Lanetler” was staged many times not only in Turkey but also Germany and Greece. In 1995, Mungan published the selection book “Murathan ‘95”. In 2005, he published “50 Parça”, which includes stories, poems, essays, and plays. His works have been translated into German, French, Italian, Swedish, Norwich, Greek, Finnish, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Iranian, Kurdish and Dutch, and have been published in magazines, newspapers and anthologies. Currently, Mungan continues to work as a free writer in Istanbul.
