Fatma Nezihe Araz (11 May 1920 â 25 July 2009) was a Turkish writer and journalist. In addition to her 1959 best seller on the saints of Anatolia, she wrote several plays for television and the stage as well as three books about Atatürk.
Araz was born on 11 May 1920 in Konya. She hailed from the eminent Bulgurzade family, renamed Araz after the Surname Law. Her father, Rñfat Araz, was an officer in Ziraat Bankasñ and was the bank's director in Konya at the time of her birth; he would later become a Member of Parliament for the Republican People's Party. Her mother's name for Müzeyye and she was the second wife of her father. She graduated from Ankara Girls' High School in 1941 and from the Department of Psychology and Philosophy in the Faculty of Language, History of Geography in Ankara University.
Whilst at university, she was heavily influenced by two of her lecturers, Muzaffer à Âerif Baà ÂoÃÂlu, who introduced the university to psychology, and Behice Boran. She was an ardent follower of their magazine Yurt ve Dünya and later, when they started publishing the magazine Adñmlar, which was aligned with the Turkish Communist Party, she became a volunteer.
After she graduated, Araz became an assistant to Boran. However, when Boran was expelled from the university in 1948, Araz quit her job and was taken to Istanbul by her family, who wanted to take her away from leftist circles. The Araz family had always been religious and Araz's father was already affiliated with the religious order headed by Kenan Rñfai. By 1948, Araz had also become affiliated with this Sufi order and dropped her plans to become a scholar after meetings at Istanbul University. In 1950, she published her first book, Benim Dünyam ("My World"), a collection of poems. In 1951, after the death of Rñfai, she co-authored the book KenâÂÂan Rifai ve Yirminci Asrñn Ià ÂñÃÂñnda Müslümanlñk ("Ken'an Rñfai and Islam in the Light of the 20th Century") with Samiha Ayverdi, Safiye Erol and Sofi Huri.
In 1952, she started her career in journalism at the magazine Resimli Hayat, owned by à Âevket Rado. She later continued working with the same team in the magazine Hayat. In 1953, she published the book Fatih'in Deruni Tarihi, a biographical work on Mehmed II in the light of her religious approach. In 1956, Araz started working in the newspaper Havadis, owned by the Democrat-aligned Bahadñr Dülger. Araz was sent to Mecca to write a series of reports to gain circulation. One of the photos published was of an Arab urinating next to a wall, this was reportedly met with outrage from the visiting King of Iraq, Faisal II, and Araz was fired from the newspaper.
Between 1957 and 1963, Araz worked in Yeni Sabah. In 1959, she published her book Anadolu Evliyalarñ ("Saints of Anatolia"), another religious work chronicling the lives of 50 saints. This book was a great commercial success and broke sales records. She published more religious books in the 1950s and 60s, and worked as a columnist in Yeni ðstanbul, Milliyet and Güneà Â.
In 1973, Araz started writing TV plays. These plays were played by the duo of Yñldñz Kenter and à Âükran Güngör and portrayed women and men from different walks of life in their daily realities. The plays were dramas and the themes included limits placed upon women by the society, gender roles, marital disputes and generation gap. Emotional dialogues were balanced by comical dialogues. Her first full-length play, Bozkñr Güzellemesi ("An Ode to the Steppe"), was staged by the state theatres of Turkey in 1974âÂÂ75, as were her later plays, ÃÂyle bir Nevcican (1979), Alaca Karanlñk (1981), ðmparatorun ðki OÃÂlu (1983), Ballar Balñnñ Buldum, Savaà  Yorgunu Kadñnlar ("War-Weary Women"). In 1987, she wrote the play Afife Jale on the life of the first Turkish actress, Afife Jale for which she won the Best Playwright Award from the Turkish Ministry of Culture. She won the Afife Jale Theatre Award and Avni Dilligil Theatre Award for her work.
After 1984, she prepared a show for women on TRT named Hanñmlar Sizin ðçin, which she wrote and presented. She wrote the script for the 1983 film ðhtiras Fñrtñnasñ.
In 1993, she published Mustafa KemalâÂÂle 1000 Gün, in which she portrayed the relationship between Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and Latife Uà Âà Âaki. She then wrote more books on Atatürk, publishing Mustafa Kemal'in Ankara'sñ in 1994, Mustafa KemalâÂÂin Devlet Paà Âasñ and Bir Zamanlar O da ÃÂocuktu: Adñ Mustafa.
In 2003, she was awarded the 2003 Burhan Felek Media Award for her work in journalism.
In 2012, a documentary about Araz was made. The documentary, named Beyond Words, was directed by Jeyda Elsasser, grand daughter of her sister Vecihe Buyukaksoy.
Araz lived in an old people's home in her last years. She suffered from Alzheimer's disease, refused to see anybody and had reportedly lost a lot of weight. Araz died in 2009.