Mahmut Makal

Mahmut Makal was a Turkish writer and publishing house founder. He is considered the most important representative of Turkish social realism of the 1950s and 1960s and the founder of the literary genre “village literature”. His most famous work, Bizim Köy (1950), caused a stir because of his unsparing depiction of village life. Makal was arrested and spent two months in prison until the accusation of communist propaganda in this work could be refuted. Further works followed. In 1967 he was dismissed from school due to similar suspicions and later reinstated. His works have been translated into numerous languages.