Selen Ozturk is a San Francisco-based writer born in Istanbul. Her writing appears or will soon in Evergreen Review, Hobart, Ghost City Review, SF Chronicle, and SFGATE. She has received support from Bread Loaf, Grub Street, and The Writers Grotto. She holds a philosophy degree from UC Berkeley and works as a journalist, editor, and news research director.
ozturkselen (at) gmail.com
reportage
forthcoming: always
i write many true stories on everything from geopolitics to Harry Belafonte as the research director of Ethnic Media Services (2022-2024); some include ADA lawsuit fraud in San Francisco, diaspora Turks after the 2023 earthquake, Dolly Parton bestowing books upon California’s children, migratory grief for the eternal refugee, Bay Area housing gaps, adding 1 million years of life expectancy to LA County by greening it, fighting extreme heat in California’s hottest county, and affordable housing milestones in California. like a newswire, these stories are run throughout a network of 2,000+ community print, TV, radio, and digital outlets across the U.S. and largely in California, from El Tecolote to Nichi Bei News (2022 – )
i reviewed two plays for the San Francisco Chronicle (2023)
i wrote about ripping up the pavement and greening California’s schoolyards for SFGATE / Bay City News (2023)
i wrote about Maya Deren, ’70s eco-horror, early CGI, how The Monkees birthed New Hollywood, and Turksploitation cinema for Bright Lights Film Journal (2022 – 2024)
i was city reporter extraordinaire for the Piedmont Post and Bay Area local papers (2022 – 2023)
i was arts reporter extraordinaire for The Daily Californian (2022)
i wrote about movies, music, and books for PopMatters (2022)
i wrote many pieces on art for Whitewall including San Francisco exhibition reviews; a Friday art world party column; international exhibitions like the Venice Biennale, the Recontres d’Arles, Paris Mens’ Fashion Week, and Milan Mens’ Fashion Week; the burgeoning NFT and VR beat; and interviews with artists like Tourmaline, Milagros, Brett Cook, Koen Vanmechelen, Nicolas Bourriaud, Ahmet Güneştekin, and Ignasi Monreal (2022)
i wrote about two 1970 student protest films for Senses of Cinema (2022)
i wrote about Bill McKibben and Barry Lopez in a book review for Stone Pier Press (2022)
prose
forthcoming: work in Ghost City Review, Hobart, Archetype
i wrote an essay about my love for Sea Ranch, California in Where Meadows (2024)
i wrote a fictional story about honesty for Hobart (2024)
Rosa Bonheur: zoological Thomas Kinkade or bovine Michelangelo? i found out for The Oxonian Review (2022)
i wrote about the Rothko Chapel for Bayou Magazine (2022)
i like the Rothko Chapel so much i wrote even more about it for Wilderness House Literary Review (2022)
i wrote about ecological genius and architectural dictatorship in Arcosanti, Arizona for Archetype (2022)
i wrote about Bernard Maybeck and the Palace of Fine Arts for Synchronized Chaos (2022)
poetry
forthcoming: work in Evergreen Review, Sport Literate, Haight Ashbury Literary Journal
i have two poems about Sea Ranch and San Francisco in California Quarterly (2024)
i have a few poems in Ginosko (2024)
i wrote poems for MONDAY (2021)
misc
i wrote a short movie about the long-term benefits of psychopathy in the corporate world, which was Official Selection of the Sacramento International Film Festival and nominated for the IMDB qualifying competition of the LA Independent Women Film Awards (2024)
quoted, covered, interviewed in the San Francisco Chronicle, Verso, Cinema Retro, bivoulab, Study Hall
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© 2024