“SEZER WILL LIVE HER 16 AT THE AGE OF 46. BECAUSE ALL POEMS EXPRESS THE LONGING FOR CHEWED FLOWERS.”
BEHÇET NECATİGİL, 1966
For centuries, poets and writers have defined love as humanity’s only concern, sought remedies for love, and tied everything to love. Love is certainly sacred to the poet, but Sennur Sezer is a writer who set out to say that labor is also sacred enough to fall in love with. This lady, who tells the workers’ stories, the struggles of the poor, the tears of grieving mothers and their labor, was born in Eskişehir. She started elementary school in the second grade in Eskişehir and completed her education at Kasımpaşa Mixed Middle School. She left Istanbul Girls’ High School midway and became a supply and accounting officer at Taşkızak Shipyard. Her first confrontation with working life was here, and she started writing about the labor that she did not receive compensation for. She later worked as a proofreader at Varlık Publishing House. Between 1969 and 1975, she wrote radio plays for TRT, articles about art exhibitions, painters, and writers in Cumhuriyet and Vatan newspapers. She worked for Yapı Kredi Bank Art World Magazine, Asa Agency, Gelişim Encyclopedia, and Görsel Publications until she retired. Her first poem was published in Sanat Dünyası magazine in 1958, and her first poetry book, Gecekondu, was published in 1964. Her poetry and articles were published in Varlık, Yeditepe, Hürriyet Gösteri, Yazko Edebiyat, Hürriyet Gazetesi -Avrupa baskısı-, Cumhuriyet Gazetesi Kitap Eki, Elele, Beaute magazines, and newspapers. Her close friend, Eray Canberk, describes Sezer with the following words:
“SENNUR SHOULD NOT ONLY BE EVALUATED AS A POET OR A LITERARY FIGURE. HER THOUGHTS AND ACTIONS IN SOCIAL AND POLITICAL FIELDS SHOULD ALSO BE EVALUATED. WE HAD REALIZED THAT SHE HAD AN “WOMEN’S FREEDOM” UNDERSTANDING THAT WAS VERY DIFFERENT FROM THE USUAL MEANING IN THE EARLY YEARS OF OUR ACQUAINTANCE. SHE WAS EXPRESSING HER THOUGHTS ON THIS SUBJECT STRONGLY AND CLEARLY WITH INSISTENCE.”
She worked for Yapı Kredi Bankası Sanat Dünyası magazine, Asa Ajansı, Gelişim Ansiklopedisi, and Görsel Yayınlar until retirement. In 1999, she briefly served as the general secretary of TYS. After retiring in 1983, she continued her work as a freelance writer. Just by the titles of her three books – Gecekondu (1964), Yasak (1977), Direnç (1977) – one can understand the inspiration behind them. And of course, there is her warm sisterly nature behind the mighty mountain, which can be reached through Eray Canberk’s memoirs. Her close friend, Bülent Habora, consoled his friend Canberk with the word “beautiful” at his funeral. Throughout her life, she was awarded not only great friendships but also awards. In 1980, she received the Women’s Voice Magazine 8th of March Award for her writings and poetry for women, the Halil Kocagöz Poetry Award in 1987 for “Bu Resimde Kimler Var,” the Sıtkı Dost Children’s Literature Award in 1990 for “Keloğlan İle Köse,” the Pir Sultan Abdal Associations Literature Award in 1998 for promoting poetry, the Oğuzkaan College Poetry Masters Award in 2000, the Yunus Nadi Poetry Award in 2000 for “Kirlenmiş Kağıtlar,” the Ş.Avni Ölez Poetry Labor Award in 2009, and the PEN Poetry Award in 2012. She was unable to receive the Fazıl Hüsnü Dağlarca Poetry Award, which her husband Adnan Özyalçıner accepted on her behalf. He reached out to her with the following words:
“I have been unable to reach you in my dreams for a long time. In this dream, I learned that you were on a ship, embarking on a journey. You were on an old passenger ship, with a long nose, a chimney, and belching smoke. It wasn’t like the modern-day sea buses or ferries. When I learned that the ship was about to depart from the old Galata pier, I ran. A taxi splashed water all over me. The pier was empty, and the ship was nowhere to be seen. Ignoring the foaming waves that had surrounded the pier, I walked on the wet, slippery stones until I reached the very end. If you looked carefully, the ship seemed to be disappearing on the horizon. I shouted the news to the waves of the sea: ‘You won the 2015 World Book Respect Award this year!’ I don’t know if you heard me. But what I do know is that you existed in the past on a ship that no longer exists, a ship that existed only for you, between the sea and the sky.”
While continuing to prepare documentary narrations and writing articles about her work, Vedat Günyol makes an announcement on Wednesday, October 7, 2015.
As one reads Sennur Sezer, their thoughts become different because the world she describes is another world that touches people as they read. At times, there is a mischievousness in her poetry, as her husband Adnan also tells with a smile. She maintains a balance between image and narrative in her poetry. She plays with language without breaking it. She has never allowed her words to become melancholic. Like Yaşar Kemal, she also finds hope in hopelessness. There is always a hidden enthusiasm in her verses. This enthusiasm will not end with death, and she is the elder sister of all trampled flowers. Happy birthday, you are now 75 years old. And still Adnan is waiting for you:
“THE NEXT DAY, YOU WOKE ME UP TO A MORNING SCENTED WITH LINDEN TREES, SAYING ‘ADNAN, LOOK!’. JUMPING OUT OF BED, I SEARCHED FOR YOU INSIDE THE HOUSE. YOU WEREN’T THERE. I IMMEDIATELY OPENED THE WINDOWS AND THE DOOR. THE AIR WAS FILLED WITH THE SCENT OF LINDEN. I WALKED AROUND INSIDE THE HOUSE, WHILE DÜĞME (THEIR CAT) STOOD AT THE DOOR, MEOWING TOWARDS THE DEPTHS OF THE APARTMENT. THE WINDOWS AND DOOR WERE LEFT OPEN FOR A LONG TIME, IN THE HOPE THAT YOU WOULD COME.
HOW FORTUNATE THAT YOU HAVE PASSED FROM THIS WORLD…”