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Alev Lytle Croutier was born in Izmir in 1945. She studied Comparative Literature at Robert College in Istanbul. She then went to the US to study Art History at Oberlin College. She pursued her study in film at NYU. Croutier has taught at Dartmouth, Goddard, and San Francisco State University, and given lectures at many universities, museums, and libraries.
She worked as a screenwriter and documentary filmmaker in Japan, Turkey, Europe and the US. She received a a Guggenheim Fellowship for "Tell Me a Riddle," based on Tillie Olsen′s acclaimed novel.
Croutier then entered a career in publishing and founded the Mercury House Publishing Company in 1986, and worked as its executive editor for many years. Her articles have appeared in both literary and mainstream magazines such as Art & Antiques, Harper′s, London Telegraph, Gourmet, SF Magazine, Focus and Zyzzyva as well as anthologies including "Roots and Branches", "Istanbul," "I Should Have Stayed Home" and "Water Voices." Croutier was one of the two women invited to contribute to "A Window Over the Mediterranean" at the G8 Summit in Genoa in 2001 among writers such as Amos Oz, Tahar Ben Jelloun and Amin Malouf. Croutier has written many non-fiction novels including "Harem: The World Behind the Veil," "Taking the Waters," "The Palace of Tears," "Seven Houses," and "Leyla: The Black Tulip." In all her work, she combines the Eastern tradition of storytelling with her Western literary education, finding the point where East meets the West. Her novels have been translated into 23 languages.
Croutier has also been in numerous radio shows and TV documentaries. She was the commentator of the Canadian Film Board series "The Powder Room," BBC′s "Mozart in Turkey," Channel 4′s (BBC) "The Reign of Women" and "Harem". She gives talks on Orientalism, Middle Eastern Women, Harems, and Turkey. She currently continues her works in San Francisco.
Reference: amazon.com, en.wikipedia.org |
