Nazli Karabiyikoglu is a novelist, poet and nomad. Karabiyikoglu studied Language and Literature at Boğaziçi University and has since published five books. Facing political and gender oppression in Turkey, she catalyzed the Turkish #Metoo movement and advocated for political minorities within the Turkish publishing industry. As a result of her advocacy and publications exposing the ongoing sexual assault she and her colleagues were subjected to within the Turkish literary scene, she exiled herself from the Turkiye’s publishing community.
As a queer feminist author, she fights for freedom of speech and creation. Through her work, she draws attention to conflicts and problems related with gender politics and domestic conflicts and hegemony in her home country. She aims to write freely about one of the biggest taboos in her country; homosexuality, a moral prohibition of Turkey that leads to violence in the LGTBQAI+ community.
Karabiyikoglu has received several awards for her writing and was invited to speak at many international literature festivals as well as international writing residencies. She is the recipient of a fellowship from Pen Germany. also awarded a spot in the Literary Residence program in Prague through UNESCO Creative City of Literature 2020. She drew the attention of the US literary scene with an excerpt of her novel, Elfiye. Her work can be found in The Los Angeles Review, The Asymptote, Circumference, Words Without Borders among other places.
She has been attending Friedrich Alexander University to pursue her Masters in Human Rights. She is represented by Janklow&Nesbit.
Photography: Maximilian Gödecke