Rector Kürşat Aydoğan with Ömer Erdem
Every year, Bilkent University’s Oğuz Tansel Turkish Literature Research Center awards prizes in the fields of “Children’s Literature,” “Folklore” and “Poetry” in the name of Oğuz Tansel.
This year, the Poetry Award was presented to Ömer Erdem for his book “Güneş Kalır Bir Başına” published by Everest Yayınları in 2021.
The 2022 award selection committee consisted of Alphan Akgül, Mehmet Kalpaklı, Birhan Keskin, Orhan Tekelioğlu and Levent Yılmaz. On November 24, preceding the award ceremony, in a panel discussion titled “Thoughts on Modern Poetry,” Devrim Dirlikyapan, Alphan Akgül and Murat Üstübal talked about modern Turkish poetry in general and focused on Ömer Erdem’s poetry, both thematically and technically. They explained how Erdem creates a new lyrical discourse that connects the past and the present by applying his knowledge of verse meter, manner and composition, specific to classical poetry, to contemporary poetry. In addition, they listed Erdem’s original style, in which he subtly creates counterintuitive metaphors and plays around with tone through cadence and rhymes, as the reason for the award.
A performance of Joseph Haydn’s “Trio with Piano” (Yağmur Ak, Ada Çağlar and Yiğit Ülgen) followed the panel. After Mehmet Kalpaklı’s talk, Rector Kürşat Aydoğan presented the award to Ömer Erdem.