hülya n. yılmaz [sic] was born and raised in Turkey. After completing her Master’s Degree in Germanic Languages and Literatures at Hacettepe University in Ankara, she has moved to the U.S. in pursuit of her doctoral studies. While raising her one and only child, she has completed her Ph.D. at The University of Michigan in Ann Arbor in the same area of specialization. Her dissertation, however, involved a comparative study; for in her research, she focused on the influence of the 13th and 14th century mystical poetry of the Islamic Orient on the 19th and 20th century mainstream German literature. She, thus, applied comprehensive analyses on the Sufi ghazals of Rumi and Hafis within the context of their impact on German-speaking writers as far as form, content and symbolism. Her voluminous book on the same topic was published in German under the title of Das Ghasel des islamischen Orients in der deutschen Dichtung.
For the following 40+ years then, hülya has dedicated herself to academia. She taught a large variety of courses, including those she designed herself, while she completed some scholarly work alongside. Her position at the university called for a strong presence in the teaching field. She still managed to participate actively in numerous national and international conferences where she presented her academic work. The feedback she received at those conferences enabled her to gain a vital insight into the advancement possibilities of her teaching career. She intensively and diligently compiled materials to enrich her students’ learning journeys. At the same time, her research projects expanded beyond that with which she had been mostly familiar when her field-specific expertise was concerned. She was no longer doing the work for German Literatures and Languages, but had rather attained a considerable amount of knowledge with regard to comparative literature studies. As a result, she was pursued to teach multi-disciplinary seminars for the Comparative Literature Studies Department at Penn State – the university from where she retired in 2018. Her curricula consisted of literary traditions within the Islamic context. Initially, her course texts only included the selected literary work by Muslim women. Soon, however, she began to teach on the basis of gender-neutral reading materials.
A few years before her retirement, hülya started working as a freelance writer and editor. In an attempt to honor her second lifelong passion – creative writing, she authored three books while still teaching full-time at Penn State: Trance, Aflame. Memoirs in Verse, and An Aegean Breeze of Peace (co-authored). Trance is a multi-linguistic collection of poems in which she offers her own translations of her Turkish and German poetry. The other two entail poems in English. After her retirement, she authored this and that . . . a hodgepodge of hülya’s poetry, Letter-Poems from a Beloved (prose poetry), and Canlarım, My Lifeblood (poetry in Turkish and English, private edition). As an early retiree, she continued to provide first-time as well as experienced authors with her freelance editing work on a full-time basis. She considers herself to be fortunate to have in her editorial record a large number of writers with whom she has collaborated toward their debut books (poetry and prose) as well as throughout their 2nd, 3rd or 4th professional writing endeavors.
The literary language of hülya’s first preference is English, which is the second foreign language she acquired; Turkish, her mother tongue takes the second position. As for German – the first foreign language of her acquisition and the core element of her academic career, it comes in last.
hülya finds it vital for everyone to understand a deeper sense of self. She writes creatively to attain and nourish a more comprehensive understanding of our humanity.
Don’t just exist. Live. ~ hny, 2016
~ All books of hülya n. yılmaz are available either at
http://www.innerchildpress.com/h%C3%BClya-n-yilmaz.php or Amazon.com, but also via e-mail at choiceandcourage@gmail.com ~
hülyaswritings 
awesome you 🙂
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Indeed exciting news, about a superbly interesting life, by obviously an equally interesting person whose writing demands continuation, which I will do so post-haste, and rest assured will come back to you without undue delay. I am impressed, and also curious to hear what moved you to read me. In any event I thank you for your interest.
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Your visit pleases me very much, as I have been reading your poetry for quite some time – for its poetic mood, imagery but content as well, all of which seem so effortless, as were you to be conversing with your reader one on one. But then, there is the tone of it, an aspect of your writings I -at least for the time being – don’t seem to be able to explain. I enjoy it instead. The way poetry should, wouldn’t you agree? I, too, thank you for your interest.
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I can but agree with your claim of enjoying in lieu of worrying on the question of tone, for without that poetic tone or if I may, my hiding place, I might have dried up long ago. Thus so admitting, as you can see I continue to remain in hiding of sorts. Call it poetic licence or prerogative, if you will.
In the interim, if this small mystery as to my method of expression, keeps you interested in my scribbles, I am most thankful, not to mention truly honoured that you with such impressive baggage, continue to read me, and have been for some time. À bientôt.
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I am, to my dismay, plagued with the age-old dilemma of human nature: a grave time restriction. I would, otherwise, have purchased your books long ago to be familiarizing myself with their essence. The “small mystery,” as you call it with modesty, behind your poems is utmost promising in its suggestion that the authorial intent may be attained after all. I am, as you see, revealing how I not merely enjoy your work but rather attempt to relive through your own questioning the tone you assign to them from your “hiding place.” I remain in gratitude for your interest in my work and the value you assign to it with your words. I, too, am honored but also humbled.
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Most intriguing your being plagued by grave time restriction. I pray you mean to suggest grave as in serious. With what I have read of you so far I have no doubt about your occupation of time, and am pleased that you are able to read me just the same.
As to you’re revealing the enjoyment you derive from my poems, this is to say the least appreeciatively flattering, and assuredly most encouraging. It is the kind of nourishment on which we hungry scribblers of poetry feed, as you a fellow poet, an accomplished one at that, is surely aware. Thank you ever so much for your kind and wonderful words. Again, à bientôt. JJ
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I am humbled by your modesty (and thrilled with all the glorifying words you use regards my work…and, while not wanting to confess ever so publicly, want to send you my special thanks for sating that hunger we both seem to know too well – amid all our fellow poets). Yes, yes, with “grave” I merely was suggesting “serious.” Forgive me for indulging more than a bit in dramatization…Wonderful to know you have been here again. Teşekkür ederim. Thank you.
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You’re welcome 🙂
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