Aytül Akal
Becoming an author or poet was Aytül Akal’s childhood dream. As soon as she graduated from Izmir American College, she pursued literature, writing articles and doing interviews in various magazines, starting with Hayat Magazine in 1974. But she wanted to write a book. In 1981, she published her first poetry book. But she still could not find the book she was looking for. Finally, one day she slipped and fell into the world of children. Oooo, what a fun environment this was, it was as if Akal had never left it… And so, when her first work for children, The Child Who Doesn’t Like the Night was published in 1991, she decided to write for children and young people from then on. In 1995, aiming to publish quality children’s and young adult books, she founded Uçanbalık Publishing and later joined Tudem Publishing. From 1997 onwards, she published children’s and young adult books in Cumhuriyet newspaper’s book supplement. Akal writes stories, poems, fairy tales, novels and plays for children and young people and prepares social projects. Her book introductions, reviews, interviews with writers, illustrators and translators are published in magazines and newspapers; her stories, tales and poems are included in textbooks. Her books have been translated into German, Spanish, Persian, Bulgarian, Arabic, Azerbaijani, Hungarian and English and published abroad. In 2012, 5th National Children and Adolescents Literature of Living Writers themed series of symposiums have made a meticulous study of Akal’s works for 3 consecutive days between May 9-11. Her works have been a research subject by academics in several books. In 2010, she has been nominated as a candidate for International Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (ALMA) by Children and Adolescents Publications Society (CGYD) on behalf of Turkey. In 2020 and 2021 she has been nominated as a candidate for ALMA by ITEF-Istanbul International Literature Festival. Becoming an author or poet was Aytül Akal’s childhood dream.
