Today on My Poetic Side we have articles about the fan who has been given permission to be buried next to a poet, and the Yunus Emre poetry contest.
Fan of Poet Granted Permission to be Buried Next to her Literary Heroine
Under the Burial Act 1853, only local residents, individuals named on the electoral roll of a church and those who die in the parish have the right to a burial in the local churchyard. Those who want to be buried elsewhere can apply to the Church of England as a special request.
In an interesting case, The Church of England has granted permission for a fan of Sylvia Plath to be buried in the same churchyard in Yorkshire, even though she resides 200 miles away.
Plath, who was a celebrated novelist and poet took her own life in 1963 following a difficult divorce from the poet Ted Hughes. She is buried in Heptonstall, West Yorkshire. The unnamed woman, who is 44, had visited the grave and said in her request that it made her feel “profoundly spiritual” and described Plath as her “literary heroine”.
The judge who approved the woman’s request said that it was a possibly unique request and rather unusual. In making the decision he said that he did not believe it would open up the floodgates for people wanting to be buried near to their literary heroines and heroes.
Sylvia Plath is considered to be one of the most celebrated writers of the 20th century. The Bell Jar, her semi-autobiographical novel has sold over 3 million copies in countries all over the world.
Yunus Emre Contest Announced
As part of their celebrations to mark the 700th anniversary of the death of the poet Yunus Emre and to help promote the Turkish language.
The competition will be open for those Turkish Nationals who are currently residing abroad. Previously held under the name YTB Turkish Awards the competition name will now also include the name of the poet.
There are four categories to the competition, these include poetry, story, book support and essay. Each category will have its own judge. The winners will be chosen by a jury and will take into account effective and correct use of Turkish spelling and grammar as well as technical features and form, style and originality.
The winner in the poetry, story and essay categories will win 20,000 Turkish liras with the runner up getting 15,000 and the third-placed writer 10,000. In addition to this, there is the Yunus Emre Special Award which has a prize of 10,000 lira.
In the category of book support, there will be a prize of up to 20,000 lira, which is to be awarded to the top five authors. This money should be used to help with the funding of both copywriting rights and also the costs that are associated with publishing a book.
The top 10 contestants in each of the categories will be awarded a YTB Turkish Literature book set and also be given the opportunity to take part in the YTB Literature Academy free of charge.
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