Kıvanç Nalça

Who is Kıvanç Nalça? (1973-Istanbul)

Kıvanç Nalça was born on April 4, 1973, in Istanbul. He completed his primary and secondary education in Eskişehir. He graduated from Ankara University, Faculty of Language, History and Geography, Department of Theatre. He continued writing theatre plays from his student years onwards. His first book, “The Unhappy Mothers Club,” was published by the Ministry of Culture in 1997. With this play, he received the Women’s Plays Award from the Association for the Study and Research of Women’s Social Life (KASAİD). His book “Collected Plays I,” published by Mitos Boyut Publications in 2004, included plays that won awards in national competitions.

In 1999, he started working as a Producer at TRT Istanbul Radio. At TRT Istanbul Radio, he produced more than two hundred radio plays as a dramaturg, producer, and director, and retired from his position as Director of Theatre and Entertainment Broadcasts, where he served for 5 years. He served as the Founding President of the Dramafon Radio Play and Sound Culture Association. In 2008, he started publishing Dramafon, Turkey’s first and only radio play and radio culture magazine, with a team dedicated to radio plays. In 2009, his book “1924: The First Radio Plays in World History” was published by Sistem Publishing. He attempted to make Brecht’s radio poem accessible to us by translating it into Turkish, and this poem was set to music by Vedat Sakman.

Between 2007 and 2024, his novels “Çıplak” (Naked), “El-Alemin Sözleri” (Words of the World), “Tuz” (Salt), “A Dervish on the Path of Love: Yunus Emre”, and “Mestur” were published by various publishing houses, along with his poetry books “Hiç Masal” (No Fairy Tale), “Thespis’in Maskeleri” (The Masks of Thespis), and “Naber Lan Elizabeth” (What’s Up, Elizabeth?). In 2024, “Collected Plays II” was published by Mitos Boyut Publications. The artist, a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage bearer and traditional storyteller (meddah), undertook a Grand European Tour in 2018, encompassing ten countries, with his one-man show “Yunus Bir Söz Söylemiş…” (Yunus Emre Spoke a Word…) supported by the Ministry of Culture. This show, staged with the mission of introducing the Turkish language, the great poet and mystic Yunus Emre, and his thoughts to the world, reached audiences in Turkey and Europe with over a hundred performances. During the pandemic, the artist focused on painting and sculpture. His works, inspired by the dramatic forest fires in Turkey and Athens in 2021, were presented to art lovers under the title “Burning” series and exhibited in various art galleries in Athens and Istanbul in 2021. The exhibition “Burning” was held in Hall B of the Turkish Journalists Association Press Museum between January 25 and February 11, 2022, and the exhibition “Tragedy I” was held in Hall B of the Turkish Journalists Association Press Museum between April 11 and April 29, 2022. The artist continues his work in his studio in Tokatlıyan Han in Beyoğlu. The artist’s works are exhibited at Saatchi Gallery and Arthipo.