PERİ BAYAV

İzmir- Being a ‘woman writer’ is a field where women struggle as every field. Unfortunately, despite the belief that women cannot enter the publishing world for centuries, women have gradually shown that they can do. One of these women is Selda Uzunkaya for me. Selda Uzunkaya, who has written many books in many categories such as Children&Youth, Children’s Story & Novel, tells us her writing adventure that will inspire women.

Uzunkaya was born in Kars province and grew up in Ankara. After graduating from the Department of Theatre History and Theory at Ankara University and then she completed her master's degree in Dramatic Writing in Performing Arts at Dokuz Eylül University. The stories written by her such as Kibrit(Match), Har, Öykü Gazetesi (Öykü Newspaper), Uçurtma (Kite)and 7’den 70’ Çocuk(Children from all ages) were published by Human and Culture magazines. Selda, who has written a children’s book entitled “Curious Mişka”, says she has learned a lot and kept learning. 

I have visually impaired friends. We used to meet every Friday. I read books for them. Then, we become very close friends. We told ourselves to not only read books but also to come together to chat. Then, we said let’s write something and discuss what we write. And I started writing. But no one wrote just me. I also liked the theater very much. I was very excited when I heard that the theater has an authorship section. That's what I exactly wanted. I held creative writing workshops for six years. For a while, I held a fairy tales- fiction workshop for children. The idea of writing children’s stories arose. I am writing about two children’s magazines. I have been working with children for creative drama for 10 years.

Let’s write and become free

While talking about the differences in her life after she started to write, Selda emphasizes her childhood. She spent her childhood a little bit in poverty. That's why she couldn't tell what troubles she faced too much. 

“Writing was a space for me to say what troubles I faced. No artwork is crueler than life itself. I realized that my childhood was affected me a lot. So, I wrote stories about poor children first.”

“Women who write their own stories…”

Selda Uzunkaya also started to write about situations, relationships, life, and politics without using an agitated language. 

“Some had very difficult childhood in this region. Villages of people were burned, their language was banned. Women's lives have always been stories since they were born. The story of women begins with being born as girls and continues until their death. If women want to write, they should write without being dominated by anyone.”

Children have cultural and artistic rights

Talking about the stories of children, Selda states that it is a job bringing many other responsibilities with it.

“But we should put an exclamation mark here. When you write for adults, you don’t think about its consequences. The adults can take care of themselves. But writing for children needs many other responsibilities; because their world is open to gain vital experiences. You should be careful writing for children because they have cultural and artistic rights. I think we should protect their rights.

We learn by hitting our walls built by us

Talking about women’s struggle and organizing, Selda Uzunkaya emphasizes that women's organization is very important. 

“In fact, we learn by hitting our walls built by us. Women can laugh, go out on the street when they are pregnant, nobody will be interested in whether they are a girl or a woman, they could leave whenever they want without taking any permission from anyone.”