Ayfer Tunç

Ayfer Tunç — Biography

Ayfer Tunç was born on March 2, 1964, in Adapazarı and studied at Erenköy Girls' High School before graduating from Istanbul University's Faculty of Political Sciences. She began publishing literary pieces during her university years and worked as a journalist from 1989 at the magazine Sokak and the newspapers Güneş and Yeni Yüzyıl; that same year her story "Saklı" won the Cumhuriyet newspaper's Yunus Nadi Short Story Award. Between 1999 and 2004 she served as editor-in-chief at Yapı Kredi Publishing.

Her 2001 book "Bir Maniniz Yoksa Annemler Size Gelecek" won the Balkanika Award in 2003 and was translated into several Balkan languages as well as Arabic for release in Syria and Lebanon. Her screenplay "Havada Bulut," adapted from short stories by Sait Faik, aired on TRT in 2003, and she contributed to the writing teams of the television series "Aliye" and "Binbir Gece," as well as screenwriting credits including "Usta," "72. Koğuş," and "Leke."

In November 2025 she published the novel "Annemin Uyurgezer Geceleri," exploring themes of family secrets, memory and womanhood, and that same month received France-Turkey's Fernand Rouillon Literature Award.