Necati Cumalı

Necati Cumalı (13 January 1921 – 10 January 2001) was a Turkish writer of novels, short-stories, essays and poetry. He was born in Florina, Greece to a Turkish family who had settled in Urla near İzmir in the framework of the 1923 agreement for the population exchange between Greece and Turkey. He grew up in Urla and did his studied in İzmir. He started his law education at İstanbul University then completed it in the Law School of the University of Ankara. He started writing poetry while he was still a student and his poems were published as of early 1940s in such prominent Turkish literary periodicals as Varlık and Servet-i Fünun. Toward the end of that decade, while he was doing his military service, he also started writing short stories in which the profound influence of another important Turkish writer, Sabahattin Ali, could be felt. This, and the themes of social consciousness obvious in his works could be the reason for which he was sometimes cited in the same title as other "writers of the left", although he never actively engaged in political issues.

His vivid portrayal of women in his works was particularly noted.

Author of about 15 books of poetry, and that many books of short-stories and novels, as well as plays, Necati Cumalı died of liver cancer on 10 January 2001 in Istanbul three days before his 80th birthday.

His valuable collection of books was donated to Koç University after his death.

In 2002 a sculpture of Necati Cumali by the sculptor Gürdal Duyar was erected in the Şairler Sofası Park, a park in the Vişnezade neighborhood of Beşiktaş, Istanbul.