Özgür Uyanık is a Turkish-born writer and film director best known for his contributions to literature and film. He gained recognition for his debut novel Conception (2020), a darkly comedic satire of the contemporary art world, and his award-winning debut collection of short stories, Men Alone (2024).
Özgür Uyanık was born in Turkey and moved to the United Kingdom with his family in 1980. He spent his formative years in London and attended the University of Kent at Canterbury, graduating with a BA in Communications and Image Studies.
After graduating, Uyanık embarked on a career in the film industry. He wrote and directed award-winning short films and ad campaigns, including Oblivious (2001), starring Sienna Guillory, which won Best European Short Film at the Brussels European Film Festival. The film was also shortlisted for a BAFTA and sold to Universal Sci-Fi Channel and Canal+ International.
In 2010, Uyanık debuted as a writer-director with Resurrecting: The Street Walker. The film was nominated for Best UK Feature at the Raindance Film Festival. It was an official selection at several other international film festivals, including the International Istanbul Film Festival and the Festival of Fantastic Film Manchester.
His second feature-length project, Holy Men, was selected for the 2014–2015 Binger Filmlab Writer's Lab in Amsterdam and the Creative Europe MEDIA workshop The Film Garage. This opportunity allowed Uyanık to hone his storytelling skills further and collaborate with other filmmakers.
The same year he won the Criminally Good Crime Writing Competition at the Essex Book Festival. He co-edited an anthology of essays by underrepresented writers, Just So You Know-Essays of Experience, published by Parthian Books. Since 2017, he has been publishing short stories, essays and book reviews in the UK.
"Writing allows me to explore the nuances of human experience in a way that film sometimes cannot," Uyanık said in an interview.
Uyanık's debut short story collection, Men Alone (2024), has received critical acclaim for exploring modern masculinity. Tristan Hughes described it as "a rich and multilayered meditation on aloneness in all its complex shades and metamorphoses." Selçuk Altun praised it as "a powerful and poetic new voice in the art of storytelling."
Men Alone examines the lives of various men in different locations, from Cardiff to Istanbul, Lisbon, Odesa, London, and Paris. Jon Gower of Nation.Cymru highlighted the book's engaging and cosmopolitan nature, noting, "It's the atmosphere and sense of place that allows some of these stories to properly lodge in the mind."
Uyanık also teaches creative writing at Cardiff University and Cardiff Metropolitan University.
Photo credit: www.parthianbooks.com
Özgür Uyanık was born in Turkey and moved to the United Kingdom with his family in 1980. He spent his formative years in London and attended the University of Kent at Canterbury, graduating with a BA in Communications and Image Studies.
After graduating, Uyanık embarked on a career in the film industry. He wrote and directed award-winning short films and ad campaigns, including Oblivious (2001), starring Sienna Guillory, which won Best European Short Film at the Brussels European Film Festival. The film was also shortlisted for a BAFTA and sold to Universal Sci-Fi Channel and Canal+ International.
In 2010, Uyanık debuted as a writer-director with Resurrecting: The Street Walker. The film was nominated for Best UK Feature at the Raindance Film Festival. It was an official selection at several other international film festivals, including the International Istanbul Film Festival and the Festival of Fantastic Film Manchester.
His second feature-length project, Holy Men, was selected for the 2014–2015 Binger Filmlab Writer's Lab in Amsterdam and the Creative Europe MEDIA workshop The Film Garage. This opportunity allowed Uyanık to hone his storytelling skills further and collaborate with other filmmakers.
The same year he won the Criminally Good Crime Writing Competition at the Essex Book Festival. He co-edited an anthology of essays by underrepresented writers, Just So You Know-Essays of Experience, published by Parthian Books. Since 2017, he has been publishing short stories, essays and book reviews in the UK.
"Writing allows me to explore the nuances of human experience in a way that film sometimes cannot," Uyanık said in an interview.
Uyanık's debut short story collection, Men Alone (2024), has received critical acclaim for exploring modern masculinity. Tristan Hughes described it as "a rich and multilayered meditation on aloneness in all its complex shades and metamorphoses." Selçuk Altun praised it as "a powerful and poetic new voice in the art of storytelling."
Men Alone examines the lives of various men in different locations, from Cardiff to Istanbul, Lisbon, Odesa, London, and Paris. Jon Gower of Nation.Cymru highlighted the book's engaging and cosmopolitan nature, noting, "It's the atmosphere and sense of place that allows some of these stories to properly lodge in the mind."
Uyanık also teaches creative writing at Cardiff University and Cardiff Metropolitan University.
Photo credit: www.parthianbooks.com
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