February 2022: Recipient 018, Tuğçe Özbiçer
We’re very happy to announce that the 18th recipient of The White Pube Writers Grant is Tuğçe Özbiçer. @tugce_ozbicer is a London-based Turkish journalist, writer and photographer from Istanbul. We found real care and value in her writing, which reaches from searing human rights-focused articles to softer texts that reflects on lyrics, home and love. Not only did we feel this in Tuğçe’s work, but so did a friend who emailed us to back her submission, writing that ’I’m constantly in awe of the way she writes in a language that is not even her own. I’d love for your audience to be able to read her work too and for Tuğçe to realise that her stories are worth telling here.’ We agree and we hope you enjoy getting to know Tuğçe’s work as well.
Bio:
Tuğçe Özbiçer is a writer and photographer from Istanbul. She worked for Turkish left-wing newspaper Gazete Duvar after having graduated in journalism. Tuğçe moved to London in search of writing opportunities in August 2020, due to the increasing oppression of the media in Turkey. She covers mostly LGBTIQ+, women, arts and culture and human rights-themed stories, for newspapers and magazines including Independent, New Internationalist and Arts of the Working Class.
Links below if you want to read her work:
- Read Arabesque
- Read ‘Femicide in Turkey is rising. If you took part in #ChallengeAccepted, you need to amplify the cause you overlooked'
- You can find more of Tuğçe’s work on her linktree
- Tuğçe’s Instagram
- Tuğçe’s Website