Muazzez Tahsin Berkand
Meryem Muazzez Tahsin (1899? – 4 October 1984) was a Turkish female writer. After the Surname Law in 1934, she assumed the surname Berkand. Life. She was born to Hasan Tahsin and his wife Ayşe in Thessaloniki, Greece, then a part of the Ottoman Empire. There is no consensus on her birth year as 1894 or 1900. According to "Writers of Turkey" she was born in 1899. The family left Thessaloniki after the Balkan Wars, and emigrated to İstanbul, Ottoman Empire in 1912. In İstanbul, she learned English and French by private lessons, and studied at the French  missionary school of "Soeurs de l'Assomption" in İstanbul. In 1917, she went to Beirut, Lebanon, then under the Ottoman rule, to serve as a teacher of Turkish in the Beirut High School for Girls, which was founded by Halide Edip. After the Turkish War of Independence in 1922, she returned to İstanbul to serve a few years in the Şişli Terakki High School as a teacher of French and Ethics. Between 1925 and 1929, she worked for the "National Automobile Company" as a translator, and secretary. Berkand entered then the Ottoman Bank as a translator. She served 25 years in  the Department of Legal Affairs of the bank. She never married. Berkand died in Istanbul on 4 October 1984. Novelist career. While professionally working as a translator, she wrote novels, which earned her fame. Although she also wrote short stories, she is mainly known as a novelist. Works. Her books (excluding the adaptations and the story book) are the following.