, Turkey

Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

), is a Turkish-German actress, director and author.

Özdamar has received a lot of recognition for her work. A lover of poetry, she found great inspiration in the works of Heinrich Heine

Heinrich Heine

Christian Johann Heinrich Heine was one of the most significant German poets of the 19th century. He was also a journalist, essayist, and literary critic. He is best known outside Germany for his early lyric poetry, which was set to music in the form of Lieder by composers such as Robert Schumann...

 and Bertolt Brecht

Bertolt Brecht

Bertolt Brecht was a German poet, playwright, and theatre director.An influential theatre practitioner of the 20th century, Brecht made equally significant contributions to dramaturgy and theatrical production, the latter particularly through the seismic impact of the tours undertaken by the...

, especially from an album of the latter's songs which she had bought in the 1960s in Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

. She later decided to study with Brecht's disciple Benno Besson

Benno Besson

Benno Besson was a Swiss actor and director. He had great success as director at Volksbühne Berlin, Deutsches Theater and Berliner Ensemble in East-Berlin, where he went by an invitation of Bertolt Brecht in 1949...

 in Berlin, where she currently resides.

Awards

• Ingeborg Bachmann Prize
  Ingeborg Bachmann Prize
  The Festival of German-Language Literature, formerly Ingeborg Bachmann Prize, is a literary competition which takes place yearly in Klagenfurt, Austria...
  
   (1991)
• Walter-Hasenclever-Preis (1993)
• New-York Scholarship des Literaturfonds Darmstadt (1995)
• Adelbert-von-Chamisso-Preis (1999)
• Künstlerinnenpreis des Landes NRW (2001)
• Stadtschreiberin von Bergen-Enkheim (2003)
• Kleist Prize
  Kleist Prize
  The Kleist Prize is an annual German literature prize. The prize was first awarded in 1912, on the occasion of the hundredth anniversary of the death of Heinrich von Kleist. The Kleist Prize was the most important literary award of the Weimar Republic, but was discontinued in 1933.In 1985 the prize...
  
   (2004)
• Fontane-Preis (2009)
• Carl Zuckmayer Medal
  Carl Zuckmayer Medal
  The Carl Zuckmayer Medal is a literary prize given by the state of Rhineland-Palatinate in memory of Carl Zuckmayer. The medal itself was fashioned by state artist Prof. Otto Kallenbach. The prize is also given with a 30 liter cask of Nackenheimer wine from region Gunderlock, a type valued by...
  
   (2010)

Works

• Karagöz in Alamania, (play, 1982)
• Mutterzunge, (short stories, 1990, ISBN 3880221065)
• Keleoğlan in Alamania, (play, 1991)
• Das Leben ist eine Karawanserei
  Caravanserai
  A caravanserai, or khan, also known as caravansary, caravansera, or caravansara in English was a roadside inn where travelers could rest and recover from the day's journey...
  
   hat zwei Türen aus einer kam ich rein aus der anderen ging ich raus, (novel, 1992, ISBN 3462023195)
• Die Brücke vom Goldenen Horn
  Golden Horn
  The Golden Horn is a historic inlet of the Bosphorus dividing the city of Istanbul and forming the natural harbor that has sheltered Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Ottoman and other ships for thousands of...
  
  , (novel, 1998, ISBN 3763248021)
• Der Hof im Spiegel, (short stories, 2001, ISBN 3462030019)
• Seltsame Sterne starren zur Erde, (novel, 2003, ISBN 3462032127)