KEMAL, YASAR

(1923- )

Of Kurdish ethnic heritage, Yasar Kemal is one of modern Turkey's greatest living novelists. He is noted for his command of the language and lyrical description of rural Turkish life. His most famous work,Mehmet, My Hawk, is the story of a Robin Hood-like bandit in the Taurus Mountains. Kemal has written more than 35 other books, which have been translated into some 30 different languages, and he has won numerous prestigious awards. He also has been a perennial candidate for the Nobel Prize inliterature. On 30 June 2009, Turkey's Bosphorus University awarded him an honorary doctorate.

In 1995, Kemal ran afoul of the Turkish authorities for his criticism of Turkey's policy toward its ethnic Kurdish population, and he was tried under Article 8 of theAntiterrorist Law. Due to international publicity, he only received a suspended sentence.