Oktay Rifat was born on 10 June 1914 in the city of
Trabzon, son of poet and linguist
Samih Rifat, who was also governor of Trabzon. He was raised in a family that included many artists and writers. His great-grandfather Macar Hurşid Bey was a composer well versed in both Turkish and western music, and his grandfather Colonel Hasan Rıfat Bey was interested in poetry. He graduated from Ankara Erkek Lisesi (Ankara High School) in 1932, and while he was a student of
Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar in high school, he wrote his first poems. He completed a Bachelor of Law from the
University of Ankara but he did not lose his interest in literature and his passion for writing. In 1937, he was appointed to
Paris,
France by the State Ministry to do his
PhD, however came back after three years without completing his degree due to outbreak of
World War II. He moved to
Istanbul in 1955, and started to work as a legal adviser for the
Turkish State Railways in 1961. He retired in 1973, and died in Istanbul on 18 April 1988. He was interred at
Karacaahmet Cemetery in
Üsküdar district of Istanbul. ==Career==