Seyhan Erözçelik was born in 1962 in Bartin on the Black Sea, studied psychology at Bogazici University and oriental languages at Istanbul University. In 1986 he co-founded the Siir Ati (Horse of Poetry) publishing house which brought out over 40 poetry titles in 1980s. Since his 1986 debut with Yeis ile Tabanca (Despair and Pistol), he has published eight collections, including Kir Agi (Hoarfrost, 1991), Gul ve Telve (Rose and Coffee Grind, 1997) and Sehirde Sansar Var! (There is a Marten in Town!, 1999). His collected poems were published in 2003 and his latest book is Varidik, Yogidik (Once We Were, We Weren’t, 2006). He has also written poems in the Bartin dialect and in other Turkic languages, and has brought a modern approach to the classical Ottoman verse style, aruz, in his book Kara Yazili Meskler (Tunes Written on the Snow, 2003). His translations into Turkish include the poetry of Osip Mandelstam and C. P. Cavafy. He lives in Istanbul.

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