Dursun Özden

Poet, travel writer and documentary director-producer Dursun Özden was born in Niğde in 1950. After graduating from Niğde High School, he studied management and cartography, and then completed the Press and Public Relations Department of Anadolu University. He obtained diplomas from the Kırcali Balkan Folklore Institute Academy in Bulgaria and the Grigore Kiazim Popular Music Research Institute of Bucharest University. His first poem appeared in 1970. His poems and essays have been translated and published in English, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Macedonian and Russian. His works on literature, culture, art, tourism, language, criticism and folklore are regularly published in newspapers and magazines and broadcast on radio and television. He began his journalism career in 1975 as a correspondent for the Politic newspaper in Kocaeli. He has also worked for İSTA (Istanbul News Agency), Politika, Cumhuriyet, Milliyet, AA (Anatolian Agency), DHA (Doğan News Agency) and the TRT Documentary Channel. He has published 29 books, has visited more than 99 countries and every city in Anatolia, has researched ethnic cultures in Tuva and beliefs and folklore in Africa, and has studied population exchange and the wanderers of Anatolia. He continues to write for Azer News, Assa-Irada, Daily News Travel, Bizim Gazete (Our Newspaper), Bilim-Ütopya (Science-Utopia), Türk Dili Dergisi (The Review of Turkish Language) and Cumhuriyet Gezi (the travel supplement of Cumhuriyet).

Dursun Özden is the founder and supervisor of the Union of Science and Literature Work Owners (BESAM). He is a member of the Travel Writers Association, the Journalists Association, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) as Turkey Representative, the International Federation of Writers and Journalists of Tourism (FIJET), the World Federation of Writers (PEN), the Turkish Press Council, the Turkish Journalists Association, the Turkish-Arabic Science association, the Union of Documentary Filmmakers, the Mersin Arts Union, the Culture and Artistic Association, the Association of Men of Letters and the Turkish Writers Syndicate. In Turkey he is the representative of ASSAI-IRADA (Daily News Agency), AZER NEWS (English newspaper), DAILY NEWS TRAVEL (Italian) and Daily News Istanbul.

Published works: Rainbow Field (poems, 1970), Industrial Democracy (research), New Time Dervish (poems), The Extreme of Love (poems), After Reading (articles), The Bleeding Song (poems), Don't Let the Songs Bleed (three books of poems in Macedonian), Cuba Is Not So Far (memoir, travel), Lipprint (poems), Contemporary Story Selection (anthology), The Light of Lost Time (poems), The Glaze of My Heart (essays), The Paradise Without Lies (travel guide), The Journey to Uyghur's Karez Wells (research-travel), Nazim of Galina's (travel-dialogue-research), Fired Red Pines (poems), Involved Articles (articles, criticism), Uyghur Karezes (documentary film and book, 2009), Turpan Karezes: We Have No Profits (documentary research and interviews, 2010), Anatolia Karezes (documentary film, 2010), Anatolian Water Civilization (documentary film, 2011), Holy Water Zamzam (documentary film, 2012), Makkah Water Ways (documentary film, 2013), Shaman Tablets (documentary film, 2013), Lilith Tablets (poems, 2015), Walls of the Inn (documentary film and book, 2016), Poetry Festival (poems, 2018), Bolkar Mountain Scream (historical research, 2020), There Is No Religion Without Independence (historical research, 2021), Bleeding Scream (poems, 2021).

Awards and prizes: 1970 World Peace Day Poem Prize; 1977 Bulgaria, Dimitry Blaguev Story Prize; 1989 STFA, Technical Staff Prize; 1996 Guayasamin Association of Cuba, Latin American Literature Prize; 1999 Middle East Writers Association, Al Cahez Poem Prize; 2000 Adverse Art Review of Adana, 8th National Poem Prize; 2000 Biographical Institute (ABI), Cultural Research Prize; 2001 Journalists Association of Turkey (TGC), Local Press Prize; 2003 Arabian News Agency Association, Red Poem Prize; 2003 Tunisian Ministry of Culture, Golden Palm Prize; 2004 Azerbaijan Writers Association, Sword and Pen Prize; 2005 Syrian Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Silk Road Prize; 2005 China, Uyghur Autonomous Region, Karez Well Research Prize; 2005 Russia, Votkinsk Municipality, Tchaikovsky Citizenship Prize; 2006 Mersin/Yenice Municipality, World Peace Day Prize; 2006 Azerbaijan Science Academy, Turkish World Research Prize; 2007 Malaysian Ministry of Culture, Pacific Colours Prize; 2011 Islamic Republic of Iran, Qanath Well Research Prize; 2013 Russia, Tuva, Association of the Nine Sky Shamans, Dungur Prize; 2013 Profit Magazine, Travel Literature Award; 2014 Russia, Tuva, Nine Sky Shamans Union Award; 2015 Osmaniye, Anatolian Folk Culture Research Institute, Documentary Film Award; 2016 Konya Aydınlar Ocağı, Seyyah-i Shaman Award; 2017 Ordu/Ünye Municipality, Yunus Emre Award; 2018 Ankara University DTCF, Contemporary Turkish Research Award; January 2026, Adana Metropolitan Municipality, National Memory Award; October 2026, Osmaniye, International Culture Art Days, Çukurova–Yaşar Kemal award in poetry, story and public sciences.