Selim İleri

Selim İleri — Biography

Born Ali Selim İleri on 30 April 1949 in Istanbul's Kadıköy district, the son of academic Hilmi İleri, he took his first name from the Ottoman sultan Selim I. He began his schooling at Galatasaray High School and finished at Atatürk Boys' High School, later enrolling in law at Istanbul University before abandoning his studies. Encouraged by his teachers Vedat Günyol and Rauf Mutluay, he turned to literature in his teens, and after an early novel attempt was rejected by publishers, made his debut in 1967 when the story "Savaş Çiçekleri" appeared in the magazine Yeni Ufuklar.

In 1968 he published his first story collection, Cumartesi Yalnızlığı/Güz Notları, dedicated to his late father. Meeting director Halit Refiğ in the early 1970s drew him toward screenwriting; his first screenplay, Cennetin Kapısı, followed in 1971, and the pair went on to collaborate on films such as Bir Demet Menekşe, Askerin Dönüşü, A Broken Love Story and Göl. He published his debut novel, Destan Gönüller, in 1973 and the story collection Dostlukların Son Günü in 1975, which earned him the Sait Faik Story Award in 1976. He also directed two films of his own, Yedikuleli Mihriban (1992) and Hiçbir Gece (1989).

Over a career spanning more than six decades, İleri wrote prolifically across novels, short stories, memoirs, travel writing, essays and dramaturgy, and was honored as a State Artist along with the Orhan Kemal Novel Prize, the Sedat Simavi Literature Award and the Erdal Öz Literature Award. He died in Istanbul on 8 January 2025 at the age of 75, prompting numerous tributes to his literary legacy and friendships.