Ruhan Odabaş

Ruhan Odabaş was born in 1948 in Borcka district of Artvin. Odabaş, the child of a Laz family, was born in Demirciler village and started his teaching career after completing the teacher training school.

After teaching in Izmit, Çayeli and Bitlis, he worked as a worker in the petrochemical industry for many years and retired. Retirement life brought Odabaş's creativity and writing career to the fore. The experiences he gained throughout his life as a teacher and worker also left traces in his writings.

He actively worked with the Social Democratic Populist Party and took on various positions in Kocaeli province. He served as a municipal council member between 1994 and 1999. Odabaş started his writing journey with his stories, and after his retirement, he collected the stories he wrote in a book. Odabaş, who also has poetry books in Turkish and Laz, has an important place in the world of literature.

In 2010, he also had acting experience by playing the character of Kadir Dede in the movie Snow White. Odabaş, whose articles were published in Kocaeli's local newspaper Özgür Kocaeli, also wrote a chapter in Tuncay Bilecen's book titled Gray Yeşil: İzmit. Odabaş, who traveled to the old Izmit taverns, reflected this experience in his writing.

Odabaş, who is a jury member in the Ruşen Hakkı Poetry Competition and the story competitions organized in memory of Naci Girginsoy, has a respected position in the literary world. Described by writer Ömer Yerlikaya as "the greatest poet of the free genre produced by Artvin", Odabaş also draws attention with his command of Turkish and his emphasis on the aesthetic pleasure of the language in his writings.