Oğuz Tansel

Tansel graduated from Davutpaşa junior high school and Pertevniyal high school in İstanbul. He took up teaching as a profession as early as 1938 while studying at the Department of the Turkish Language and Literature of the Faculty of Literature at the University of İstanbul and gave it up in 1969 when he retired for health reasons. He taught and held administrative positions in the junior high schools and high schools in Mardin, Akhisar, Eskişehir (Çifteler Village Institute), Amasya and Konya. He was a member of the Turkish Writers’ Union and honorary member of the Literary Society.

His early poems employing rhyme and rhythm were published in the periodicals Servetifünun and Varlık and his first article appeared in Halk Bilgisi Haberleri (1937). After 1940 he was seen to turn to free verse and was noted among Turkish poets of the 1940s generation. He gained recognition with the poems and articles published in numerous literary periodicals such as Varlık, Aydınlık, Yelken, Yeditepe, Kaynak, Dost, Güney, Türk Sanatı, Kıyı, Türk Dili. In his poems where he treated themes of humanism, love, struggle for peace and freedom, equality and socialism he arrived at a plain style of poetry.

Alongside poetry, Tansel was the scholar of Turkish folk tales which he had recorded during 1942-1948 in the province of Amasya. He made the highest contribution of over forty types of Turkish folk tales, to the Typen Türkischer Volksmarchen catalog prepared by professors Pertev Naili Boratav and Wolfram Eberhard. With the mastery and meticulousness derived from his poetic skill, he formed his own unique, fluent narrative style in writing down those tales for children. He was the first author to receive the Children’s Literature Award in 1977 given by the Turkish Linguistics Society for his two volume collection of folk tale books titled “Al’lı ile Fırfırı”.

His poems were composed to music by the American composer Prof. Bruce Reiprich. And recorded live on a CD titled Salkım Söğüt, or The Weeping Willow. On the first anniversary of his death in 1995, his friends had a book The Mythical Bird with Three Wings: Oğuz Tansel (Üç Kanatlı Masal Kuşu: Oğuz Tansel) published for him.

Following his death, his family donated Tansel’s library to the Department of Turkish Language of the Middle East Technical University in Ankara to give rise to the Oğuz Tansel- Kalbiye Tansel Library.

His family together with Ankara Aydınlığı Girişimi instituted a poetry award to commemorate him. His family together with Ankara Aydınlığı Girişimi, Folklor/ Edebiyat Dergisi and Troya Folklor Dernegi also instituted a folkore award to commemorate his achievements in folklore. These awards are given one year to a work of poetry and the following year to a work of folklore.

Oğuz Tansel was the first to receive the Children’s Literature Award given by the Turkish Linguistics Society in 1977.