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Fatih Erdoğan (Izmir, 23 April 1954) can best be described as a pioneer of children’s literature in
Turkey. He finished high school in Robert College and graduated from the Mechanical Engineering Department of Boğaziçi University.  In 1980, he founded Mavibulut Publishing
 House, which is the first publishing house in Turkey that focuses exclusively on children’s literature. The same year, his first book Pan ve Çiçeği (Pan and His Flower) received the Best Picture Book Award given by the Association of Librarians. Since then, he wrote 64 children’s books and illustrated many of them himself. Today he is one of the most popular children’s authors in Turkey and his books were sold over 800.000 copies.

At a time when children’s publishing was not taken seriously and was regarded only as a side job for Turkish publishers, he launched numerous initiatives in order to develop this sector in Turkey. He translated and published the works of many prominent authors in the world such as Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Eric Carle, Maurice Sendak, Martin Waddell, Alf Prøysen and many others… Many of today’s most popular local children’s authors in Turkey also had their first books published by Fatih Erdoğan. In 1986, he organized the first “illustrating fairy tales” contest in Turkey. In 1994, he founded The Association of Children’s Books (which later became the Turkish IBBY) where he worked as the chairman for 10 years. Between 1990-2000, he published a literature magazine for children named Kırmızıfare (The Red Mouse) and the first academic journal
 on children’s literature in Turkey named Binbirkitap (1001 Books). From 1992 to 2002, he worked as a lecturer in the Librarianship Department of Istanbul University’s Faculty of Literature. He finished his MA and PhD in the same department. He wrote more than 100 articles on children’s literature in daily newspapers Cumhuriyet and Radikal and in several magazines. He was chosen as speaker in many conferences on children’s literature in both Turkey and Europe. Between 2006-2008, he gave a seminar on How to Write for Children in Bilgi University, Istanbul. Since 2011, he gave Children’s Literature course in the Department of Education in Maltepe University during the years 2011-2015. Fatih Erdoğan received many awards in Turkey and was nominated for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (ALMA) in both 2016 and 2017.

Works (selection):
The Tale of the Violinist Bear (Kemancı Ayı Masalı), 1982, story; I Can Read by Myself (20 books) (Artık Kendim Okuyabilirim), 1985-2013, stories; I Love Her (Onu seviyorum), 1995, short stories; The Magical Books (11 books) (Sihirli Dizi), 2001-2015, novel series; Where is Ayşegül? (Ayşegül’e Ne Oldu?), 2000, novel; The Pirate Book Gang (Korsan Kitap Çetesi), 2001, novel; Master Fa’s Violins (Fa Usta’nın Kemanları), 2012, play; What a Homework! (Böyle de Ödev mi Olur!), 2013, novel; Momburger (Hamburgere Dönüşen Anne), 2015, novel.
www.fatiherdogan.com