İhsan Topçu

İhsan Topçu was born in Sürmene in 1948. He finished primary and middle school in Trabzon and high school in Kilis. In 1965, he entered the Faculty of Law at Istanbul University, but discontinued and transferred to the Department of Turkish Language and Literature in the Faculty of Letters at Istanbul University, where he graduated in 1971. The next year, he was appointed to Diyarbakır Ziya Gökalp High School. He then served as a Turkish Language instructor at Kocaeli University in 1994. Topçu was appointed to be Head of the Department of Turkish Language at Kocaeli University. In 1995, he founded the Poetry School at Kocaeli University, and served as a chair until 1998. He then served at the Press and Public Relations Office at Kocaeli University in 1998-1999. Since retiring in 2006, Topçu has continued teaching as an instructor at Kocaeli University.

His first poem was published in Kilis Hududeli newspaper in 1964. Since then, Topçu has published many poetry books including "Üçüncü Mevki Duygular" (1969), "Yarınsız Sayfaları Yırtıyorum" (1975), "Arayış Yol Arıyor" (1990), "Gökyüzünü Yitiren Kuş" (1994), "O Yitik Kıpırtı" (1996), and "Yaşam Avuçlarımızda Sonsuzveren Gül" (2003). He prepared "Kocaeli Günümüz Şiiri Antolojisi” in 2005. His poems and writings have been published in many magazines and reviews such as Cumhuriyet Kitap, Papirüs, Eski, Berfin Bahar, Düşlem, Güney, Ilgaz, Ozanca, Çağdaş Türk Dili, Damla, İnsancıl, Kıyı, Karşı, Türk Dili, Poetikus, Şiir Ülkesi, Yaşasın Edebiyat, Pencere, Damar, Agora, Afrodisyas Sanat, and Güzel Yazılar. Topçu has received many awards including Humanist International Honorary Award for Poetry (1992) for his poem "Gökyüzünü Yitiren Kuş", Ş. Avni Ölez Poetry Award (2004) for his book "Gül", and Oğuz Tansel Poetry Award (2013) for his work "Kalbinden Kanıyor Zaman." He served as a publication director of poetry magazine Gökyüzü from 1996 to 2005.

Reference: ykykultur.com.tr, sanatlog.com, tr.wikipedia.org