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Born in 1944 in İzmir, Alev Alatlı had her high school education in Tokyo, Japan. She received her bachelor’s degree in Economics and Statistics from Middle East Technical University (METU), her master’s degree in the field of Economics and Econometry from Vanderbilt University (Nashville, Tennessee), USA where she was on a Fulbright study grant. Later on she started her education in philosophy and continued her Ph.d studies in New Hampshire, Dartmouth College. She concentrated on Theology, History of Thought and Civilisation. Returning to Turkey in 1974, she worked as a lecturer at İstanbul University, Faculty of Economics and in Ankara as a senior economist at State Planning Organization. She carried out joint psycho-linguistic studies with California University (Berkeley). Alatlıissued a periodical called “Our English” together with Cumhuriyet Newspaper, later she took charge as deputy chairperson at Turkish Writers Cooperative (YAZKO).
works are as follows: In 1985 and 1986 her translations from Edward Said’s “Covering Islam” and “The Question of Palestine” were published. She was honored to be entrusted with the Medal of Freedom by Yaser Arafat who was on exile in Tunisia because of her efforts to publicise the Palestinian Cause. first published copyright work is the “Despotism of Intellectuals” which was followed by “Jasmines Smoke No More” in 1985. In 1987”The Torturer” received “The Best Novel of the Year” award by the Union of Writers. The Torturer was the precursor of the “Is There Anybody Out There?” quartet. “Viva la Muerte” published in 1992 was followed by “Nuke Turkey!”, “You Sure Made Me a Prey to the Wolves” and “OK Mustafa, Turkey is Dealt With” in 1993. “Resist Your Fate, Incorporated” was published in 1995. A short prose-poetry essay “September 1998” was followed by “Schrödinger’s Cat, Nightmare” in 2000 and “Schrödinger’s Cat, Dream” in 2001.
The first volume of the romanfleuve “On the Footsteps of Gogol”, ”Not Revelation, Compassion” met the readers at the end of June, in 2004, followed by the other novels of the series, “Worldwatch” and “Hey Uhnem! Hey Uhnem”. In 2004, working together with Şehabettin Yalçın, she translated “The Safest Way” by Tunuslu Hayrettin Paşa into our language.
Alev Alatlı has four more books in which her essays and daily articles are gathered, namely “If Not Now, When?” (2002), “One Should Be Able To Say No” (2005), “Remember Your Past Is Your Future” (2007) and “Turkey and the World with Alev Alatlı” (2003) which is a compilation of her interviews.
Her latest books are as follows: “No Comment” in 2008 on political sciences, “You’re Not Alone” written jointly with Ayşe Kulin, Liz Behmoaras and Nurşen Mazıcı in 2009, and “The Day I Closed Down Hollywood” in 2009.
Alev Alatlı is the Chairperson of the Executive Board of İlke Education and Welfare Foundation, founding institution of Cappadocia University, and the Chairperson of the Board of Trustees.