Perihan Magden

Perihan Mağden (born 24 August 1960) is a Turkish writer. She was a columnist for the newspaper Taraf. She was tried and acquitted for calling for opening the possibility of conscientious objection to mandatory military service in Turkey. Mağden was born in 1960 in Istanbul. she is Georgian on her father’s side, and half Russian/Balkan on her mother's side, After graduating from Robert College of Istanbul, she studied psychology at Boğaziçi University. By her own account, she was an unruly student—and her mother was proud of it.One of the most famous writers in young Turkish literature, Perihan Magden has spent some time at Yaddo, the famous artists' community. Mağden is a single mother who lives in Istanbul.In addition to writing editorial columns for Turkish newspapers (including Radikal, 2001 - 2008), Mağden has also published fictional novels and a collection of poetry. Mağden's novel İki Genç Kızın Romanı (Two Girls), published in 2005 by Serpent's Tail, was praised for pushing "Turkish beyond its conventional literary patterns" and compared to J.D. Salinger's Catcher in the Rye for the way she had captured adolescent anguish.She spent some years in far east countries. Her novel "Two Girls" has been a big success in homeland Turkey and became an award winning movie premiered in Europe in London Film Festival right after Sydney. She is the author of "Messenger Boy Murders" (Haberci Çocuk Cinayetleri), "The Companion" (Refakatçi) and "Escape" (Biz kimden kaciyorduk, Anne?). Her latest novel "Ali and Ramazan" published in 2010 in Turkish and now out by Suhrkamp (German) and AmazonCrossing (USA). Her latest essays on Turkey are collected under the title "Political Essays" (Politik Yazılar). Her novels have been translated into 19 languages including English, French, German, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, Greek and Russian.